The futuristic science fiction action film "Fortress" has an interesting concept behind it: In the then-future 2017, the United States government has instituted a strict "one-child" policy as a means of population control; having a second child is a crime now punishable by life-time imprisonment. At the beginning of the film, former U. S. Army "black beret" captain John Henry Brennick ("Highlander" Christopher Lambert), a combat veteran and highly distinguished war hero, is sentenced to 31 years in prison after he and his illegally pregnant wife Karen (Loryn Locklin) are arrested while trying to cross the border into Mexico.
As punishment, Brennick and Karen are sent to the Fortress, a privately owned, high-tech maximum-security prison in the middle of the desert that's owned by the powerful international conglomerate Men-Tel Corporation. The Fortress is run by Prison Director Poe (all-purpose bad guy Kurtwood Smith), and the highly advanced computer system Zed-10, which controls everything within the prison. The rules are strictly enforced, with laser-beam prison cell bars and the inmates, upon arrival, being forced to swallow "intestinators," devices that inflict pain as a form of compliance/punishment or can even cause death (by inner microwaving).
"Fortress," released in 1993, was the first big-budget studio film of the late "B"-movie heavyweight Stuart Gordon (that's "Gore"-don), who made such delightfully campy, excessively gooey, gory sci-fi/horror classics like "Re-Animator" (1985) and "From Beyond" (1986). While the movie does flourish in some spots under his competent direction (and does live up to Gordon's trademark of extreme violence and gory special effects), "Fortress" really is nothing more than a futuristic version of "The Great Escape" (1963) and really cannot avoid many of the science fiction and prison movie cliches that unfortunately come with the latter genre. That the screenplay for "Fortress" is ultimately attributed to four screenwriters is quite telling in that collectively they couldn't find a unique way to transcend these cliches, even by simply moving the prison setting into the then-future and infusing the story with a high-tech, sci-fi-themed anti-corporate message (specifically the technological repression and exploitation of prison inmates as a source of slave-labor by large multi-national corporations, and the sudden philosophical shift in the American criminal justice system from rehabilitation to retributive justice - punishment).
That Brennick becomes the mastermind of a daring prison escape - a la, "The Great Escape" - along with his new cellmates, who include the youthful "fish" Nino Gomez (Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez), computer nerd and explosives expert "D"-Day (Gordon regular Jeffrey Combs), resident prison bulldog Stiggs ("Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" Tom Towles) and Poe's trustee Abraham (Lincoln Kilpatrick), isn't the slightest bit unexpected from those familiar with the genre.
Christopher Lambert, as Brennick, proves to be a capable leading man, even if he is not the greatest or most expressive of a performer. I've personally always enjoyed everything I have ever seen him in. In "Fortress," he proves to be a brave and resourceful leader that his comrades come to respect and look up to, which is admirable and not an easy thing to do given that he's the only one of his group that is not a hardened criminal.
Lastly, "Fortress" is a movie that I was introduced to by my late mother sometime in the late '90s when I was a teenager. I liked the film then, even if at that young age I realized it was kind of campy and gory fun that didn't take itself all that seriously, but did have some cool special effects and futuristic technology, and action scenes.
I still like it now, almost 25 years later.
7/10.
As punishment, Brennick and Karen are sent to the Fortress, a privately owned, high-tech maximum-security prison in the middle of the desert that's owned by the powerful international conglomerate Men-Tel Corporation. The Fortress is run by Prison Director Poe (all-purpose bad guy Kurtwood Smith), and the highly advanced computer system Zed-10, which controls everything within the prison. The rules are strictly enforced, with laser-beam prison cell bars and the inmates, upon arrival, being forced to swallow "intestinators," devices that inflict pain as a form of compliance/punishment or can even cause death (by inner microwaving).
"Fortress," released in 1993, was the first big-budget studio film of the late "B"-movie heavyweight Stuart Gordon (that's "Gore"-don), who made such delightfully campy, excessively gooey, gory sci-fi/horror classics like "Re-Animator" (1985) and "From Beyond" (1986). While the movie does flourish in some spots under his competent direction (and does live up to Gordon's trademark of extreme violence and gory special effects), "Fortress" really is nothing more than a futuristic version of "The Great Escape" (1963) and really cannot avoid many of the science fiction and prison movie cliches that unfortunately come with the latter genre. That the screenplay for "Fortress" is ultimately attributed to four screenwriters is quite telling in that collectively they couldn't find a unique way to transcend these cliches, even by simply moving the prison setting into the then-future and infusing the story with a high-tech, sci-fi-themed anti-corporate message (specifically the technological repression and exploitation of prison inmates as a source of slave-labor by large multi-national corporations, and the sudden philosophical shift in the American criminal justice system from rehabilitation to retributive justice - punishment).
That Brennick becomes the mastermind of a daring prison escape - a la, "The Great Escape" - along with his new cellmates, who include the youthful "fish" Nino Gomez (Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez), computer nerd and explosives expert "D"-Day (Gordon regular Jeffrey Combs), resident prison bulldog Stiggs ("Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" Tom Towles) and Poe's trustee Abraham (Lincoln Kilpatrick), isn't the slightest bit unexpected from those familiar with the genre.
Christopher Lambert, as Brennick, proves to be a capable leading man, even if he is not the greatest or most expressive of a performer. I've personally always enjoyed everything I have ever seen him in. In "Fortress," he proves to be a brave and resourceful leader that his comrades come to respect and look up to, which is admirable and not an easy thing to do given that he's the only one of his group that is not a hardened criminal.
Lastly, "Fortress" is a movie that I was introduced to by my late mother sometime in the late '90s when I was a teenager. I liked the film then, even if at that young age I realized it was kind of campy and gory fun that didn't take itself all that seriously, but did have some cool special effects and futuristic technology, and action scenes.
I still like it now, almost 25 years later.
7/10.