Lockout

Luc Besson has had his hand in some on my favourite action films, and with Guy Pearce fronting the show, I was willing to look past my doubts and give Lockout a go.

It’s a pretty clichéd story that sees a falsely convicted ex-government agent Snow (Pearce) being given a shot at obtaining freedom by way of an impossible mission to rescue the President’s daughter Emilie (Grace) who is hostage on an outer space maximum-security prison. Yep, I’ve got a feeling I’ve seen this film a thousand times before.

Lockout was given a US$20 Million dollar budget, and after paying Pearce that didn’t leave much for the special effects, which is why it surprised me that the police chase at the beginning of the film wasn’t kept at a straight foot chase. It would have had the same feel and the same result, but more importantly it wouldn’t have shown just how stretched the budget was in the CGI department.

But that’s a minor point. Lockout has everything you’d expect from this type of film, from the crooked politicians to the twist at the end. The film is good at throwing obstacles in front of our two main characters, Snow and Emilie and providing plenty of room for action. 

If that was all the film had, it would be a very run of the mill film, fortunately the film has Pearce and Joseph Gilgun (who plays deranged convict Hydell). Pearce injects a goodly amount of humour through his sarcastic, jaded ex-government one man army role and Gilgun is pure joy to watch as the inmate that is several sandwiches short of a picnic.

Clichéd yes, but a whole lot of mindless fun as well.

R16 Violence and sexual references.

FILMGUIDE rating:

Reviewed by: Jonathan Read