Lock Up starts as model prisoner Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone) is transfered from the nice minimum security prison Norwood to the maximum security hell-hole that is Gateway run by sadistic bent warden Drumgoole (Donald Sutherland) who has a personal axe to grind against Leone. Several years prior Drumgoole refused to let Leone out to visit his dying friend so Leone escaped & went to the press about his treatment at the hands of Drumgoole, he was left to rot in charge of Gateway while Leone was put in the cushy Norwood which Drumgoole still feels a certain amount of bitterness about. Having Leone transfered with a mere six months of his sentence remaining Drumgoole has to provoke him into another escape or some misdemeanour so he can increase his sentence & using his unsympathetic guards torture him & make the rest of his life a living hell...
Directed by John Flynn I didn't think Lock Up was brilliant but at the same time I didn't think it was too bad either. The script by Richard Smith, Jeb Stewart & Henry Rosenbaum takes itself pretty seriously & some of the sloppy sentiment can make sitting through his a chore especially the prolonged scene when Stallone & his convict friends repair an old car. This isn't a typical Stallone action vehicle & while it does have a few action sequences in it their thin on the ground & consist of fights rather than huge budget set-pieces. I quite liked the story no matter how improbable it was, I liked the character's although they do seem to come & go a little to easily & it kept me quiet for a couple of hours. The mix between action & sentimental male bonding isn't quite right & focuses a little too much on the later but as I said I still liked it although if pushed I'd find it hard to unreservedly recommend, I think maybe Lock Up is an acquired taste.
Director Flynn does OK, I wouldn't call it particularly stylish & he gets the pacing slightly wrong but it looks nice enough if not spectacular. The action scenes are fairly violent but there's no car chases or explosions which Stallone action flicks are perhaps better known for, action fans may be a little disappointed.
Technically the film is good if a little bland & forgettable, apparently Stallone got paid a tasty $15,000,000 for this which seems a lot... The acting is alright, Sutherland makes for a suitably sadistic bad guy & John Amos makes for a good hard as nails prison guard with a heart.
Lock Up is a decent film which I actually quite liked although thinking about it now it's difficult for me to explain why, it's just one of those films that you like but deep down know that you shouldn't & you don't know why.
Directed by John Flynn I didn't think Lock Up was brilliant but at the same time I didn't think it was too bad either. The script by Richard Smith, Jeb Stewart & Henry Rosenbaum takes itself pretty seriously & some of the sloppy sentiment can make sitting through his a chore especially the prolonged scene when Stallone & his convict friends repair an old car. This isn't a typical Stallone action vehicle & while it does have a few action sequences in it their thin on the ground & consist of fights rather than huge budget set-pieces. I quite liked the story no matter how improbable it was, I liked the character's although they do seem to come & go a little to easily & it kept me quiet for a couple of hours. The mix between action & sentimental male bonding isn't quite right & focuses a little too much on the later but as I said I still liked it although if pushed I'd find it hard to unreservedly recommend, I think maybe Lock Up is an acquired taste.
Director Flynn does OK, I wouldn't call it particularly stylish & he gets the pacing slightly wrong but it looks nice enough if not spectacular. The action scenes are fairly violent but there's no car chases or explosions which Stallone action flicks are perhaps better known for, action fans may be a little disappointed.
Technically the film is good if a little bland & forgettable, apparently Stallone got paid a tasty $15,000,000 for this which seems a lot... The acting is alright, Sutherland makes for a suitably sadistic bad guy & John Amos makes for a good hard as nails prison guard with a heart.
Lock Up is a decent film which I actually quite liked although thinking about it now it's difficult for me to explain why, it's just one of those films that you like but deep down know that you shouldn't & you don't know why.