Lock Up (1989)

Best movie of this year hands down!

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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.

Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone) is in minimum security lock up with 6 months left and even allowed out into the world with Melissa (Darlanne Fluegel). He gets transferred to maximum security Gateway by vindictive warden Drumgoole (Donald Sutherland). He had escaped Drumgoole's prison before and made him a laughing stock. Captain Meissner (John Amos) is his hardnosed guard. Guard Braden is more by the book. Dallas (Tom Sizemore) is an overly helpful prisoner. Eclipse manages the motorpool. Prison strongman Chink Weber is gunning for Frank.The setup is questionable. I don't get how a guy who escaped once could possibly be slated for release. The only way is to do a deal with the D.A. probably as a whistleblower against Drumgoole. The short exchange in the movie seems to suggest that and then the question becomes how does Drumgoole still have a job? The explanation for Frank's situation is so short that it feels like the movie would rather ignore it.The movie is trying to be gritty but parts of it seems wrong. At times, this feels more like a Rocky movie. There's even a musical montage of them fixing up a hot rod. It's completely out of place. There are other moments like teaching First Base how to drive. Again it's trying to be heart warming which is ill-fitting for the premise. Some of it works better but there are too many situations that don't match the expected tense grittiness. The dialog is also wrong. First Base actually uses the word 'jive'. The movie has a few too many clunky things going on.

Sylvester Stallone plays a mechanic serving time in a minimum-security prison. He's been a model prisoner, liked by everybody, and even allowed to leave the prison on furlough. One night he's awakened in his bed by armed guards and forcibly taken to a maximum security prison, headed by a sadistic warden (Donald Sutherland) with an ax to grind with Sly. He's told he will have to serve out the remainder of his sentence there and Sutherland makes it clear life will be hell for him.Sly's terrific. He's always been an underrated actor. Sutherland, as he often does, overacts and uses at least three different accents before settling on one. Since Sutherland is hardly a physical threat to Stallone, they added Sonny Landham as the tough-ass prisoner who torments our hero. Tom Sizemore is a snitch. John Amos plays a guard who seems bad but turns out to be okay. My favorite character was probably Frank McRae as a huge prisoner who comes to Sly's aid ("F train, son. F train.").What would an '80s Stallone movie be without a montage? There's a fun one here as Sly bonds with his fellow cons restoring an old car. Despite being a prison flick, it's not really like the exploitation prison movies of the '70s and early '80s. Implausible to the extreme but also entertaining.

"Lock Up" never appeared on my radar until hearing David Morrell praise Stallone's performance on the "First Blood" commentary. And he does do a pretty kick-ass job.Stallone stars as a terminally upbeat con serving out the last of his sentence in a country club penitentiary. But his cakewalks is cut short when the vicious warden (Donald Sutherland) of a nearby hellhole has him "transferred" to serve out the remainder under his thumb. Sutherland's still nursing a years-old grudge, and has made it his life's ambition to break Stallone's indomitable spirit."Lock Up" is your standard prison movie, albeit charged by John Flynn's macho direction (sentimentalized by Conti's score). But the tropes are all here and accounted for. What gives this particular prison movie a new spin is the psychological thriller aspect between Stallone and Sutherland. And it remains a hard-edged drama right up until the last fifteen minutes when things turn full-on action movie. Still, as Stallone movies go, it's one of his better performances. 6/10