The director, John Flynn, was best known for quality 70’s pictures such as The Outfit or Rolling Thunder, films which have very much stood the test of time. The sad thing is that the film does have some pedigree. It’s just that this time, the journey along the way isn’t nearly as thrilling, charming or action packed as usual. Can Frank find strength in adversity and gain the respect of his fellow prisoners? Can he expose Drumgoole’s cruelty and corruption before he ends up dead? Can he be reunited with the woman he loves? Stallone’s mechanic, Frank Leone, is a good guy who just happens to be in jail, serving his time as he awaits release and a life with his girlfriend, only to become the victim of the sadistic, vengeful Warden Drumgoole, of the infamous Gateway prison – a maximum security prison where the lowest of the low are sent to rot in hellish conditions. In truth, it’s about as high concept as films like this come. Lock Up seems to want you to believe it’s all quite plausible. Stallone’s spiritual successor a quarter of a century later, Escape Plan, at least has the virtue of being absurd. A direct attempt to challenge himself beyond the two major franchises which have marked his career, Lock Up suffers from simply being quite bland, rote, underwritten and stocked with cliches. The same year as the popular Tango & Cash, three years after the towering success of the unforgettable Rocky IV, and a year after the guns blazing bravado of Rambo III, Lock Up sees Stallone riding his natural charisma and innate mix of machismo and vulnerability to diminishing returns. ![]() ![]() Sylvester Stallone’s career was on a high around the time Lock Up, one of his lesser known pictures, came to bear at the tail end of the 1980’s.
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