4 out of 5

Director: James Mather, Stephen St. Leger

Man, what a freaking kick in the pants. On one hand this isn’t surprising to spring from the Luc Besson camp of writing / production (he only wrote this one) – a Big Idea shot with all due flash and attitude – in this case our big idea is a prison in space, and our normal flashy action entrance into that idea is the president’s daughter blah blah blah riot at the prison in space blah blah blah only one man can save the day… We’ve seen this formula a dozen times or more or more or more, and the future vibe and sneering, I-don’t-give-a-stink-about-anyone lead makes this Snake Plissken all the way, but hot damn if Lockout isn’t executed with a tad more focus and skill than the pack. Our highest rated review mentions Paul Anderson and Michael Bay – Lockout is smarter than a Bay movie, and shot better. Directors Mather and Leger (Mather lensed the film) ditch the stupid grainy color filters Bay uses and give things a nice, solid look, again reminiscent of the bold dirty and yet clean future Carpenter used for the Escape movies. And by avoiding the Paul Anderson shaky-cam and the Bay non-stop-big-action spectacle (except for an ill-advised bike chase…), they keep the action pretty direct and spatially understandable. Really grounding this all is a muscled up Pearce, who has tons of fun as the one-line deliverer. No, Lockout isn’t anything new. But it’s a nicely de-sexed, straight forward action flick that recognizes its tropes and so delivers some old-fashioned fun.