It’s
Escape from New York. On a space station. Except less good.
So let’s get this out of the way at the top –
Lockout is far from fabulous. One might even struggle to call it good but it does have a zany charm that works in its favour.
Guy Pearce is a big part of what makes
Lockout somewhat likeable. Rarely seen in lead roles, it’s clear from the off that his character Snow wants very badly to be
Kurt Russell’s Snake Plisskin. And while the script doesn’t quite manage to sell that level of cool (their fatal mistake was skimping on the eye patch) the jokes are so openly terrible and delivered with such deadpan skill that it still often works.
Lockout should also be commended for the scale of its effects work, particularly on a relatively modest budget. Co directors
JamesMather and
Stephen St. Leger came to prominence in Ireland with a green screen heavy short called
Prey Alone (watch it here) and their ways with the CG remain strong. That is, apart from an opening car chase which looks like a cut scene from a PS1 title.
The rest of the cast aren’t up to much, especially
Maggie Grace and a bored looking
Peter Stormare but the quips and effects are enough to make us positively disposed towards more feature work from the Irish duo.
Extras: Cast and crew interviews, deleted scenes and a duo of fairly interesting behind the scenes stuff.