Review of 'LOCKOUT'

LOCKOUT

In the near future exists a maximum security prison (MS-1) in a space station orbiting the Earth.  In it, the most dangerous prisoners are kept in stasis for the duration of their sentence.  SNOW is a CIA agent who has just been sentenced to this prison for the murder of another agent, FRANK.  Snow wisecracks while being beaten up during interrogation but insists he is innocent and was set up.  Before Snow can be sent to MS-1, EMILY, the daughter of the president of the United States, visits the prison on a fact-finding mission to see if prisoners are being mistreated and/or damaged by the stasis process, which some claim causes brain damage.

The warden arranges for a prisoner, HYDELL, a total psychopath, to be awakened so Emily can interview him. Hydell manages to grab a guard's gun, escape and release all of the other prisoners.  The escapees, under the leadership of Hydell's brother, ALEX, take several hostages, including Emily, though they don't know she's the president's daughter. Alex is also a psychopath, though more controlled than his totally bonkers brother.

Only one person has the necessary skills to penetrate the prison, find the president's daughter, and get her out alive. You guessed it--Snow. He's reluctant, but it turns out that MACE, the one person who can prove Snow's innocence of murder, is also on the space station, and might be able to clear Snow.  He agrees.

What will happen? Will Alex and Hydell discover that they have the perfect bargaining chip in the president's daughter? Will Snow be able to rescue her?  Will Mace, who has been demented from the stasis, be able to clear Snow? Will the idealistic Emily agree to escape from the station and leave the innocent hostages to their fates? When the station goes out of orbit (don't ask why), will it end up falling into the Earth and killing everyone on board, including Emily and Snow?

Will Emily and Snow become lovers?

Well, if you really want to know without bothering to watch the move, write me. But the movie is fun. The characters are interesting, the special effects are convincing, and, even though you can guess how it will all work out, the suspense continues. There are a lot of aggravating plot flaws: for example, people who jump from the station fall straight down, instead of going into orbit, pass through Earth's atmosphere without burning up, and land gracefully on a bridge with the aid of hang-glider type wings.

As a cinematic production, this movie is pretty much a POS (piece of shit), but as a workout movie, it's effective.  I give a it ++++ - it will get your pulse up to a spring.