: Lockout
I’m a big Luc Besson fan, but this is definitely one of his weaker efforts (I think he saves his better ideas for films he directs). The concept is cliche — a futuristic space prison — and the implementation forgets logic and even basic science. There were such huge inconsistencies and logic missteps that it sucked the life out of the film.
For instance, why have all the prisoners in stasis? If they’re all in hibernation, they could just as easily be housed on earth. It would make far more sense to use convicts as high-risk labor in space, not store them in sleeping pods for decades for what must be an obscene amount of money.
Even dumber, since the prisoners are all asleep, why does the station need to be so big and have so many guards and so many weapons? Why are there hundreds of military spaceships nearby ready to attack?
Oh, I’m sorry. I’m using logic in an action flick. I forgot. We’re supposed to suspend our disbelief and just enjoy the show. That’s tough to do here, as the action decidedly unremarkable. About the only thing that’s good is the interaction and dialog between our gruff rescuer and the president’s daughter held hostage. Even that’s inconsistent. I wasn’t even too enamored with the bad guys, who usually are a lot of fun, but in this case we have the nutty brother who’s just so insane he’s an idiot and the taciturn leader who we really never get to know. (I like crazy, but I like crazy with a plan.) And don’t get me started on the overdone plot, which is predictable with red herrings and conspiracies.
The bottom line is this is a film of moments. There are brief sequences that are quite good, but they don’t add up to a very good movie. I wouldn’t say the whole thing is terrible — it’s just nothing special. It’s a film that thinks it is clever when it is not. It’s fun if you don’t expect much (I didn’t). Just get what you can out of it.
Topic: [/movie] |
