In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Sunday 16 June 2013

Lockout (2012)

He's changed his name and lost the trademark eyepatch but he's not fooling anyone, Guy Pearce is Snake Plissken in Escape from MS One. That's what you're getting, so adjust your expectations accordingly.
I like Pearce, he's delivered some great performances in the past, but I'd not seen him in this kind of role before. He plays it with a tongue in cheek attitude that helped the film immensely. Even when delivering some corny one-liners he keeps his charm. A comedy/villainous Scotsman was the only other nice addition to a mostly bland cast.

2½ aliases out of 5

2 comments:

cuckoo said...

Looks like Carpenter successfully sued Luc Besson for this one today.

$500,000 to be exact.

Dr Faustus said...

I'm guessing it was primarily undertaken to set a precedent. The low payout seems to lend credence to that idea. Personally, I think Carpenter ought to have been honoured that a movie paid that kind of homage to him, as opposed to remaking his stuff in an abysmal manner. He did the same thing to Howard Hawks many years ago and didn't think it wrong.

What is clear, though, and what most people will remember, is that Carpenter did a disk-ish, hypocritical thing and lost the respect of many fans.

It'd be nice if it encouraged him to get back in the chair and attempt to outdo his competitors, but I wouldn't put money on it happening. He seems to have retired from directing in all but name.