In “Lockout,” Guy Pearce stars as the ill-fated “Snow,” who begins the film as a rogue agent of some sort.

Someone has set his team up, and Snow happens to be the lone survivor as well as the fall guy.

As we’ve seen so many times before, his dying partner has just enough energy to hand him a case and perfectly mutter his final command. Just before breathing his last breath, he tells Snow to make sure not to let “them” take the case away.

Thus begins the opening chase sequence, which I thought was very well done by the directors. It was also very choppy and chaotic at the same time. Usually the two don’t mix for me, but this time it seemed to work.

However, the police inevitably catch Snow, and he stands accused for crimes against the United States
The year is 2079, and a fair trial seems to be a thing of the past. Prisons that are actually on Earth also seem to be a thing of the past.

There is a massive space station called M.S. One (Maximum Security One) that now houses the earth’s most heinous criminals. This isn’t your typical prison; these guys are generally kept asleep for long periods of time in an experimental treatment called “stasis.”

In fact, this treatment is controversial enough to warrant bringing the president’s daughter, Emilie (Maggie Grace) to M.S. One to investigate it.

The warden thaws Hydell (Joseph Gilgun), one of his most sick and sadistic inmates, so that Emilie may interview him. She wants to see what kind of negative neurological effects this kind of prolonged sleep state has on people.
I was immediately irritated with Hydell’s character, and it wasn’t because he is a scumbag or a rapist.

It was because the majority of his initial dialogue in this movie was unrecognizable as English. I had no idea what the hell he was saying, which made it a little difficult to find him as intimidating as I was probably supposed to.

Snow just happens to be sentenced to 30 years on M.S. One. How convenient. But before he can be shipped off to his 30-year resting place, Emilie is kidnapped along with the other guards on the space station.

Hydell managed to get his hands on a gun, and with it he demands the prison guards release all of the other prisoners. Reluctantly, they do, and it turns a bad situation into an all-out riot in space.

The government meets with its president, and they let him know that the military just won’t work in this given situation. This is where you queue the ominous voice for the film’s trailer, because “there’s only one man who can get her out. Snow.”

So, we have a futuristic setting involving a cynical, chain-smoking criminal who has to find the president’s daughter, all while fighting against insurmountable odds and vicious murderers just to stay alive through the whole thing.

If your instincts are telling you that you have seen this before, don’t fight it; you have. Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) found himself in an eerily similar situation almost 20 years ago in “Escape from LA.”

As a matter of fact, these two anti-heroes’ names even start off the same.

Guy Pearce definitely hit the gym a bit more than Russell did, as he looks like a brick house in this movie. He looks like the Incredible Hulk compared to his wiry frame in “The Count of Monte Cristo.”

Snow hitches a ride on a space shuttle, and seemingly within just a few moments, he ends up on M.S. One and the battle begins. Apparently, space travel in 2079 is a rather easy undertaking.

The dynamic between Emilie and Snow was definitely entertaining, as they butt heads right from the get-go.

However, I saw the love story coming a mile away, and I really feel like this movie would’ve been stronger without that element.

Not only that, but these characters need to take a look at the past. Relationships that begin under traumatic experiences never last.

With this being my final review before graduation, I would like to give some of my own shout-outs. I’d like to thank Lucy Hough for getting me set up with this position; my editors, Delaney and Alisa, for painstakingly reading my stuff every week; and the North Wind for giving me the opportunity to go to the movies and write about it for the past two years.