I was kind of inclined to headline this as being the movie guaranteed to make highbrow film fans froth with incredulity. That anyone could enjoy such a derivative, tongue-in-cheek, low ambition piece of schlock, is surely cause for venomous spleen venting from the serio film brigade. They call them guilty pleasures, but thing is, I just don't feel guilty about having such a wonderfully fun filled great time with the Luc Besson produced Lockout.

Plot? Well it's the future and basically Guy Pearce (Snow) is wrongly convicted of a crime and sentenced to do stir in stasis until whenever. But up in space at the MS1 prison facility, home to all the maniacs found in "Demolition Man", the president's daughter, do-gooder babe Emilie Warnock (Maggie Grace), is suddenly taken captive and it's a big hostage situation. This looks like a mission for a serious hard bastard type! Well "Snake Plissken" wasn't available, so they get Snow, who is bulked up, full of wise cracks and has a point to prove. Guess what follows? Yep, complete popcorn frenzy as Pearce and Grace cut a swathe through MS1 and have a date with coolness personified.

On the way, via a truly gorgeous sci-fi affected Blu-ray print, we will tick off the homages and influences and compare notes with our viewing partners about how it's a "Snake Plissken" movie but with Shane Black type dialogue. While those who are partial to a bit of sci-fi design are well served here. Because even though there might be the worst CGI effects ever during a chase scene (that mercifully only runs for 50 seconds), the space ships, sets and Torsion System sequence, prove that you don't need Michael Bay type bucks to please the eyes. From the quite brilliant and hilarious opening interrogation beat down, to the big reveal and punch line, this Besson produced piece is serving popcorn with a smile to a certain segment in the film watching populace.

With bits of the "Snake Plissken" movies, "Fortress", "Die Hard", "Commando", "Demolition Man", "Minority Report", "Last Boy Scout" and any other quip laden dude/wronged man on a mission movie, Lockout clearly lacks originality. But seriously! Was anyone involved playing it as anything other than a sly homage movie? No, they wasn't. Pearce is great fun in the role, but he isn't trying to worry the highbrow crowd's votes for films of the year. Anyone viewing it expecting something cerebral should feel more guilty than those who stand up to say they had a great time watching it. Ingem Ferem. 7/10

Luc Besson is the man behind this ultra-fast-paced B-movie action flick, which can best be described as DIE HARD on a space station. It's a B-movie through and through, in which the unashamedly unoriginal storyline is rushed through at a blistering speed with plenty of entertainment value heaped in along the way.

The best thing about the film is by far Guy Pearce and his antihero character. Pearce is one of those underrated actors in Hollywood, one of the ones who seems to out-act everybody else in a movie, and you wonder why he never quite made the A-list. He fits his laconic character in this one like a glove, and the witty one-liners are delivered with relish. Put simply, he's one of the funniest action stars since Bruce Willis in the original DIE HARD.

The storyline is loaded with action and violent incident throughout, and there's little time to take a breath let alone become bored by the proceedings. Besson has assembled a great little cast here, in particular the bad guys; Vincent Regan (300) as the serious bad guy, while Joe Gilgun (THIS IS ENGLAND) has a ball as the oddball psycho. Lennie James is always a welcome presence too, and even Maggie Grace is much less annoying than she was in the TAKEN series. Kudos to Besson for producing his best movie in years.

It's 2079. Ex-CIA Operative Snow (Guy Pearce) is accused of treason. Idealistic daughter of the president of the USA Emilie Warnock (Maggie Grace) travels to orbiting prison station MS-1 to investigate if prisoners are actually guinea pigs of a huge corporation. She is taken hostage and Snow is offered freedom if he rescues her. Only she does not want to leave MS-One without the other hostages.

This is a simple 2nd tier sci-fi movie. There isn't much originality in the story. The CG is passable. The action is fun. In fact, the whole movie is fun. There's nothing wrong with fun. The actors are good. This was a fun little ride. Just don't expect too much.