WonderCon 2012: Lockout
Really, this movie should just be called Space Jail, which will probably not be the last time I mention that in writing, as I am kind of excited to see this mindlessly fun-looking sci-fi/action flick. WonderCon presented a whole panel devoted to the upcoming release from Open Road Films, Lockout, which takes place in the future, set mainly aboard a prison located in space, outside of earth’s atmosphere. The premise is essentially Escape from New York in space, but the attitude this film seems to have, judging by its footage and trailers, indicates a film that has more of a desire of being silly fun rather than serious and bleak. Read on to learn more about this film, the panel, and to see some footage.
WonderCon’s Panel Description:
Open Road Films: Lockout— Global exclusive! Be among the first in the world to see footage of the highly anticipated new film, Lockout. Starring Guy Pearce (Memento, The King’s Speech, upcoming Prometheus) and Maggie Grace (Taken, Taken 2, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Parts 1 & 2). Set in the near future, Lockout follows a falsely convicted ex-government agent (Pearce), whose one chance at obtaining freedom lies in the dangerous mission of rescuing the President’s daughter (Grace) from rioting convicts at an outer space maximum security prison. Lockout was directed by James Mather and Stephen Saint Leger from their script, co-written with Luc Besson, who is also a producer. Peter Stormare co-stars.
So this was an interesting but somewhat bland panel, mainly due to the fact that the only person to show up and promote the film was star Maggie Grace. I imagine her role is pretty significant in the film, as she is playing opposite Guy Pearce, but it seems like more of the interesting details people could have learned about this high concept action flick could have been better communicated from nearly anyone else. That said, Grace was pretty happy to talk about the film and be in front of a huge crowd to help show off her silly action film, so good on her.
The trailer was the first thing to be shown, in an effort to remind people what Lockout was, but the more interesting bit was the 5-minute clip from the film, which did a much better job of showing off the type of film that people will be getting into. It featured a pretty fun action sequence involving Guy Pearce’s character, a convict, and a fight in zero-gravity. This was followed by a pretty intense moment that involved a race against the clock, a needle, and an eye; with the clip ending right before things got too intense.
Knowing that the film is PG-13, I was into the footage enough to stay interested. The basic concept of having Pearce play Kurt Russell in a film about a space jail is enough to satisfy me as is, but Luc Besson produced action flicks tend to be fun in and of themselves a lot of the time, so we will see.
The rest of the panel was decent enough, despite Grace being the only actress present to speak about the film. She had more to say about hoping people get the tone of the film and referring to a lot of what people are in store for, as opposed to have cool tidbits of info to really delve into.
One additional note, Grace did speak a little about Taken 2, where she reprises her role as Liam Neeson’s daughter. The film has apparently been filmed already and is due to come out this fall. Not much is known about the plot, but it does involve a reversal of sorts, apparently, as Grace mentions that she was much more involved in the action.
Lockout opens on April 13th, 2012. Visit www.lockoutfilm.com to find out more about the film.
Check out the 5-minute clip that was shown at WonderCon below:
Here is the trailer for the film as well:
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