James Mather and Stephen St. Leger have made their feature film debut co-written by the master of the action film, Luc Besson. Besson also wore the executive producer hat with Mather as director of photography which is phenomenal. “Lockout” tells the story of an ex-government agent named Snow (Guy Pearce) being wrongfully accused of conspiracy to commit espionage against the United States. He is offered a deal if he saves the President’s daughter (Maggie Grace) from hundreds of psychotic inmates. Being set decades in the future, the prison is a fortress in space with one escape pod as an exit point.
What follows is a fun action film that entertains and introduces a great new action hero, the apathetic Snow. He is reminiscent of John McClane and Snake Plissken, yet different and all his own. The main villains in the film, Scottish brothers Alex (Vincent Regan from “300”) and Hydell (played amazingly by Joseph Gilgun) are exact opposites creating conflict between the two. Peter Stormare and Lennie James (“Snatch”) also are included in the cast.
The strong points of the film are at the beginning and end, some parts in the middle were lacking a bit. Pearce is also great, making the movie more enjoyable in his remarks to each situation. The ending has a complex revealing of twists that aren’t expected and leaves one thing unexplained for a possible sequel set up. “Lockout” is an entertaining action flick that isn’t anything spectacular, but it is worth seeing.
