juneebuggy
Sylvester Stallone always gets a bad rap for his films, not sure why? I've been checking out some of his older stuff recently and this is one of the good ones. Its from 89, so you immediately have to excuse some of the cheese that comes from movies out of that era but the plot is strong (if unoriginal) and the acting more than decent especially from Donald Sutherland as the sadistic and bloodthirsty prison warden and a(very thin) Tom Sizemore in an early role. Frank McRae & Sonny Landham also impress and there is a brief sighting from Danny Trejo as "gang member." Its classic Stallone though, he always manages to put a spin on his tough guy characters so that you feel sympathy and genuinely care about them. The story is entertaining and pretty much delivers what you'd expect from a prison film including here football games in the mud, and a montage while the guys work on a muscle car in the garage -strangely reminding me of 'Grease'.I liked Stallone's character in this, he plays Frank Leone; a minimum security nice guy just trying to finish his time and go home to his girlfriend. He has just weeks left before being released when he's suddenly moved to a maximum security hellhole. This prison is run by warden Drumgoole who wants revenge because Frank was the only man to ever escape which resulted in his demotion (Frank needed to attend a funeral).Drumgoole proceeds to make Frank's last few weeks a living hell, "This is hell, and I'm going to give you the guided tour" pushing him to the limits and having his sadistic guards torture him. When Frank won't break (despite time in the hole, getting shanked and encounters with fellow prisoner Chink Weber) Drumgoole arranges for him to learn that his girlfriend is about to be raped on the outside, causing Frank to plot his escape once more.Stallone seems to have a penchant for doing movies where his character goes to prison. Not sure what that's all about but look at this list; Tango and Cash, Escape to Victory, First Blood, First Blood part2, Judge Dredd, Demolition Man, Escape.
Northtribe3
The movie surrounds the character Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone) who is forced into another prison against his will and then bizarre and crazy things starts to happen and he need to help his friends and himself from trouble. The so called warden (Donald Sutherland) makes the prison life a living hell for Frank and it gets harder and harder to survive in prison. Now I have heard so many times people complaining about Stallone's acting abilities but I think he is such an underrated actor and I do not think he deserves all the crap he's gotten through the years and this movie sure proves that he can make the audience get emotions and care for his character (great acting!). When you get emotions towards the good guys and when you feel hatred towards the bad guys you know you've made a great movie. The movie takes the viewer on a wild journey and you're on your edge of your seat almost throughout the whole movie. The movie caught my interest immediately when I saw that Stallone and director John Flynn (who directed one of my favorite horror flicks "Brainscan")was involved. There's just something about prison movies in general, they almost never disappoint you. This is by far one of Stallone's best performances ever if you ask me. This movie gets an excellent rating of 10/10 stars from me.
Rob Sweeney
Lock Up will not be the most memorable film, but Stallone did a much better job than he usually does, and the film had a good depiction of the jail as a real hell.It could have been a very good movie, but it was just way too predictable. If Leone is getting beat up in a rugby game and they show a guy concerned in the back, will the guy help him? Of course he does. If Leone tells a guy only to start a car and drive it, will the guy drive it? Of course he does. And does Leone get punished instead of the guy? of course he does... I mean, you predicted it way before it actually happened. I wanted to be surprised, but you never will be in this movie. I actually fell asleep watching it, too slow at the start.Corrupt prison movie. Good action in the end. If you like Stallone and Donald Sutherland, they'll do justice to the movie.
Shawn Watson
In the same year he escaped from prison with Kurt Russell in Tango & Cash, Stallone was locked-up again in this gritty, grim thriller. Frank Leone is an ordinary man forced into avenging thugs who beat-up his kindly old mentor. He's put in prison for the crime but escapes just before his sentence is up so he can be with the old man at his deathbed. His escape and subsequent publicity shames Warden Drumgoole (a very evil Donald Sutherland), who is blacklisted with in the Penal system. Leone serves out his remaining six months in a cozy, minimum security facility and dreams of returning home to his girlfriend. In the middle of the night he is dragged from his bed and taken to Drumgoole's new domain; Gateway, the worst prison in America. Drumgoole intends to make Leone serve very, very hard time, pushing him to his limits in hope that he might lash out and thus extend his sentence.It goes through a lot of prison movie clichés, and I guess it doesn't really stand out against the better or more exciting movies in the genre. It entertains and is occasionally engaging, but is by no means a classic. The animosity between Leone and Drumgoole is interesting, and the casting of crazy Sonny Landham as the yard boss is quite scary, but again, these are all clichés. Stallone brought back Bill Conti (his old pal from the Rocky movies) to score the movie, but he effort is totally inappropriate and the light touch to the music spoils the intensity of many scenes. A different composer might have resulted in a more memorable movie. You'll never really feel the need to revisit Lock Up after a single viewing.
AD
