Lockout (2012)

Lockout (2012)
IMDB Rating: 6.1
Willhelm Scream: Yes
Genre: Action / Sci-fi / Thriller

The opening of this film is great, a guy (literallly, Guy Pearce, playing Agent Snow) under arrest is being asked questions, and his smart responses getting him a beating. The pithy responses he gives are great and worthy of note for future use.

(yourmomjokes.net)

Joseph Gilguns Scottish accent is so impressive (given he's not Scottish) that i'm surprised there weren't subtitles. He plays an inmate (Hydell), thawed for an interview with the daughter of the US President who is investigating health claims in the prison. Maybe I missed why she specifically was sent instead of someone, perhaps say, qualified to the highest degree in a more psychological field than being the Presidents daughter, but I digress.

"No, it's fine. You go, we'll stay here"
(ohiospec.com)

So Agent Snow was arrested and convicted of something and in light of shit getting real up in space when a lot of grim people get woken up all at once, he's offered the chance to go and recover her from her first game of Interstellar-doctors-and-nurses instead of doing his time. Understandably, he's thrilled.

(catmacros.wordpress.com)

Shit gets out of hand and the film goes from there. Again I wont spoil it, needless to say, it's far from a routine visit. However routine a visit to an orbiting prison by a member of the first family could ever be.

The acting is pretty good all round, most notable is Gilguns lunatic convict, Pearce's continuing delivery of lines like a man who just doesn't give a shit anymore and Vincent Regan's portrayal of a genuinely intelligent criminal mastermind. As a bonus, there's an appearance by Lennie James, last seen (by me at least, he's had plenty of work) as Sol in Snatch (2000), trying to get a diamond out of a dog's stomach.

The stunts and visuals are good, although my pet hate of linear wire work (think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) makes a brief appearance, but not enough to spoil the film. It's really not much of a surprise that the script is so good, written by Luc Besson (Fifth Element, Leon to name two) and there are noticeable similarities between Snow and Korben Dallas' dialogue. i'd say the IMDB rating of 6.1 is a little mean. With what is 'only' a $20mil budget and $32mil return (compared to say, The Fifth Element $90mil/263mil) this is really quite a good film. Snow is instantly likable (in my opinion anyway) mostly for his attitude, one rarely seen in many films since Die Hard.

Summary 
VFX:
8.5/10 - Nothing huge and amazing, but everything they do is done well and that's almost as important.
Plot:
8/10 - Why did she have to go up there anyway?
Acting:
8/10 - There are no really bad performances and some really great ones.
Score:
7/10 - The score works really well, no big tracks, just well put together.
Cinematography:
8/10 - Not much to be said, it's not awe inspiring, but it's well done.

Overall:
8/10 (41/50) Good all round Sci-fi/Action, suitable thriller, entertaining and worth watching.