Lockout, the new action production from Luc Besson, looks to be the Frankenstein monster of pieced together action staples. I’ve been calling it Con Air in Space, and Guy Pearce definitely exudes the same charisma like many of Bruce Willis’ action-hero personas.
And if you were hoping for a straight-laced yarn with Pearce as Mr. Dudley Do Right, well you were mistaken. Lockout looks anything but. The five minute opening clip is a testament to that. The action is implausible, with a nonsensical plot, but damn if it doesn’t look entertaining as hell.
Pearce is undergoing interrogation with Peter Stormare asking him questions about what he was doing in a hotel room. Forgoing an answer to making wisecracks about Stormare’s wife, Pearce is on the wrong side of being repeatedly punched in the face by a guy named Rupert. Yes, the inflicter of pain is named Rupert. Making wisecracks as if he were Willis in The Last Boy Scout, it all leads to a flashback with Pearce in a hotel room engaged in fisticuffs before making haste to the roof and running from gunships that are targeting his character.
If anything, Lockout bears a passing resemblance to Neil Marshall’s futuristic Doomsday, but is more likely to be a better surprise hit for those wanting something similar in tone to Besson’s earlier productions.
Lockout opens nationally on April 13th.