The Screen Addict | Lockout
Throwback Tuesday!
I’ve rewatched the fast-paced, high-energy SciFi flick Lockout (2012) written and produced by Luc Besson, starring the versatile Guy Pearce.
It was advertised as Die Hard in Space at the time – which sounds great for marketing I guess – but John Carpenter’s Escape from New York (1981) is of course the more obvious inspiration.
Pearce plays Snow, a renegade CIA agent who is betrayed by his superiors and sentenced to 30 years in a cryo-prison 50 miles above earth. When the president’s daughter visits the prison to inspect on the wellbeing of the frozen prisoners, all hell breaks loose and Snow is goaded into to saving the day.
Come to think of it – EfNY meets Demolition Man (1993) would perhaps be the most accurate way to describe Lockout.
The transfer to High-Definition Blu-ray has not been kind to the CGI, but the story, action and pace of the film make up for a lot.
I am a huge fan of Besson’s approach to moviemaking. His Saint-Denis, France based studio EuropaCorp is basically a conveyor belt for High-Concept film productions – easy to explain and immediately engaging.
I imagine that the lion’s share of EuropaCorp’s output over the past three decades – The Transporter (2002), Taken (2008), From Paris with Love (2010) to name but a few – started out as elevator pitches to Big Boss Besson. Again, this observation comes from a place of pure admiration.
It is no secret that my own approach to making films and series borrows many pages from the Book of Besson. I wholeheartedly believe that when developing films, series and so forth, one should always start with a strong pitch that immediately grabs the recipient’s attention.
Lockout is a solid recommend. Also, it features what is possibly the greatest one-liner – and insult to a man’s spouse – ever. I will not repeat it here, but it’s one of the very first lines of the film.
Enjoy.
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Twitter (X): Robin Logjes | The Screen Addict