Time: 95 Minutes
Cast:
Guy Pearce as Marion Snow
Maggie Grace as Emilie Warnock
Joe Gilgun as Hydell
Vincent Regan as Alex
Lennie James as Harry Shaw
Peter Stormare as Scott Langral
Director: Stephen Saint Leger, James Mather

I had heard about Lockout for a while: a sci-fi action thriller starring Guy Pearce. I really didn’t expect much going in based on the negative reactions. Perhaps it’s because of those reactions lowering my expectations, but I enjoyed the movie.

The premise had potential, with the concept being similar to Escape from New York, focusing on an anti-hero being roped into rescuing the president’s daughter from a space prison. It’s a straightforward enough story for what it is, but even then the plot is a little too thin, almost like its just loosely linking one action scene to the next one. Thankfully, it is fairly entertaining throughout, helped by the witty script and a ton of silliness.

Guy Pearce works very well as a charismatic and wisecracking action anti-hero. Despite much of the movie’s flaws, I actually think that he carries much of the movie. Maggie Grace plays the president’s daughter and is decent, she makes for a decent foil against Pearce, and the two have a lot of good back and forth with each other. Joe Gilgun also makes for an over the top and entertaining psychopathic villain, and Peter Stormare is good in the screentime he had (but needed more scenes).

The direction from Stephen St. Leger and James Mather is very rough around the edges. The action sequences are fairly uninspired and isn’t helped by the dodgy CGI. However, I still had fun with the action in a schlocky way.

Lockout is a very derivative and familiar action sci-fi thriller with dodgy CGI, but is entertaining enough for what it is, with some fun action and enjoyable performances. I can understand the negative reactions but I enjoyed it more than I was expecting to.