Lockout (DVD)

When orbital prison MS One is taken over by its inmates with the US president's daughter Emilie trapped inside, government operative Snow, recently falsely convicted of espionage, is offered a pardon if he agrees to rescue Emilie from the "maximum-security nuthouse."

Luc Besson is a curious man. Once famous for seminal genre-bending features like Nikita, Subway, Leon and The Fifth Element, after the latter was released it was like he had suddenly decided he couldn't be bothered any more. Since then he's been content to mostly write and produce Eurotrash thrillers such as the Transporter series, From Paris With Love and District 13. While by no means badly made films, they lack the heart and intelligence that so exemplified his earlier work. Lockout is the latest of these.

While the story is not exactly a complex or original movie, the detail with which the world of 2079 is envisioned has enough substance to set the scene without being bogged down by technobabble. The tightly packed streetlights of an overpopulated metropolis; the heavy graffiti of a subway station; Washington DC a blackened militarised wasteland and the Oval Office a fortified bunker. This is not the utopian sci-fi of rounded architecture, beautiful hologrammatic women and tinted blue lighting, but a dirty, industrial future eminently recognisable as not that different from our own. The isolated futuristic setting of much of the action invokes earlier classics like Outland and Fortress, while the tough and jaded protagonist would not be out of place in a 1940s noir.

Speaking of whom, you may think casting Guy Pearce as an action hero is an odd choice, but he utterly excels as the wisecracking operative Snow. Almost every word out of his mouth is a one-liner, irrespective of the situation ("I'm being beaten up by a guy called Rupert?"). If he is comparable to anyone, it's Escape From New York's Snake Plissken. He merely acts and reacts to any given situation, running on instinct rather than stopping to weigh a problem's variables. Furthering the comparison, it's also clear he doesn't give a crap about himself or anybody else.

Maggie Grace manages to be much less annoying than usual, mainly due to the lack of pathetic petulance that so often characterises her roles. Additionally, with a single sentence she actually manages to deliver the greatest moment of badassery in the entire film. As far as the bad guys go, most of the prison's populace are faceless orange jumpsuits of potential violence, with only two given any prominence. Besson, never one concerned about perpetuating stereotypes, has them as a pair of psychotic Glaswegian brothers.

With its mesh of simple story, stylised CGI, fast action and physical humour, Lockout is actually a lot more fun than its pedigree would imply, and certainly worth a look if you need a quick action fix.

Overall Verdict: While unlikely to reach the cult popularity of, say, Taken, if you're looking for the distraction of an entertaining action film, you could certainly do a lot worse.

Special Features:
Interviews With Cast & Crew
Torsion Field Sequence
MS One Action
MS One Construction
Unreleased Scenes
Previews: Gone, Piranha 3DD, The Grey

Reviewer: Andrew Marshall