The most memorable thing about Lockout were the nachos I had at the theater.
What I expected from the movie was an action-packed experience and a ridiculous story line, but Lockout was an absolute failure. The story line was completely stolen from Escape from New York, a far superior movie. Even the main character’s name from Lockout, Snow, sounds just like the Escape from New York character’s name, Snake.
The plot line is simple: the president’s daughter, Emilie (Maggie Grace, Lost), is trapped in a space-jail as the prisoners revolt, so the government has to send a rogue agent, Snow (Guy Pearce, The Hurt Locker), to sneak in the jail and save her.
The space-jail contains dangerous psychopaths from all over the world except for the U.S. and Emilie is there to evaluate the jail. Surprisingly, although the jail is supposed to be filled with criminals from all over the world, everyone seems to be either from Ireland or Scotland, and the rest just speak in an American accent.
The movie also has a sub-plot, but it is so uninteresting and irrelevant that it really has no reason to be in the movie. The sub-plot is about Snow looking for evidence that would prove him innocent of a murder he was framed for, but it is entirely pointless considering that he accepted the mission in exchange for his freedom.
The most disappointing aspect of the movie were the action scenes. The studio did not have to do anything regarding plot and characterization, because they ripped them off from another movie. All they had to do was provide flashy effects and exciting action scenes, but failed at both.
All the action scenes were boring and so short that they could have been easily missed. The chase scene in the beginning is a good example of this because it was filled with B-rate CGI and it lasted for about ten seconds. The scene consists entirely of Guy Pearce on a motorcycle speeding down a highway, chased by badly rendered helicopters and ending up crashing in a subway after which he gets up and runs away, as the poorly modeled motorcycle disappears in a green-screen.
All other action scenes either have Snow getting beaten up by some crazy Irishman, running away from crazy Irishmen or casually shooting in the general direction of crazy Irishmen. The only entertaining thing about the movie was Pearce’s performance. He carries the whole movie forward, really selling the role of the rugged renegade agent. His lines are witty and funny while answering back to the much more whiny Grace.
But if you want to watch a good action movie, go check out Escape from New York. Although it is really cheesy, it is still far superior to its badly executed rip-off.