Lockdown (2000)

Thanks for the memories!

Admirable film.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

OK so I just finished watching this movie, it was in the graveyard time slot, you know the after the "box office hit" movie they play that is usually crap but you still watch it because you can't sleep. At first I thought oh crud not another movie with rappers trying to act, but then it actually started to work for me. I think De'Aundre Bonds - Dre was perfect in his role, I was surprised how he showed the pain of what he was going through so convincingly with his eyes. I just wanted to get him away from all of it. I will also have to be a girl and say that Gabriel Casseus is gorgeous and a talented actor to boot. I was torn between liking his character and wanting to smack him in the head, which is definitely a good thing because in a lot of movies the characters are so clean cut, usually good or bad and thats that. I think that was the only thing about Avery - Richard T. Jones. He seemed to me to be a plain character, i.e. the good guy. You wanted him to get out and that was what one side of the plot was about. So to sum up I really was nicely surprised by this movie, there were a few inconsistencies but hey if you don't over analyze movies then you should be just fine.

Right - another prison flick. Another movie about a young black man, in this case 3 young black men, wrongly accused of a crime, convicted and sent to prison. The statement behind that injustice is bold enough. It's a bit "Boyz n the Hood" up to that point. Once it hits the prison - there are few comparisons to match some of the intensity (how's that for ambiguity?).This movie has a few valuable segments worth the rest of its deficits. A few scenes may take you to a place you do not want ever to be. There are moments in the prison scenes where the actors are so credible it might as well be real. The directing had flickers of greatness to capture that intensity.But just like that, in a flicker you're back to watching a $2 film worth a penny. Just watch it for the acting and directing behind a few prison scenes that fairly represent "Lockdown".

I am a big fan of prison movies but this movie really did not work for me. The plot was not very interesting with cookie cutter characters on top of that the acting was pretty poor. It rates four beers on my beer/movie rating system.

Lockdown another film from ghetto cinema fanatic's No Limit Films is actually one of their best to come alone. The very talented and underrated Richard T. Jones plays Avery an aspiring swimmer who along with his boys Cashmere (Gabriel Casseus) and Dre (De'Aundre Bonds) get locked up for a crime they didn't commit. While in prison each of the boys follow a different path Avery ends by getting a valuable prison education from his Ralph Ellison-quoting cellmate Malachi (Clifton Powell), while Cashmere quickly becomes part of the African-American gang network operating under the leadership of Clean Up (Master P). Dre, meanwhile, meets the worst fate of the three, resorting to heroin after he's gang-raped by a group of Nazi thugs. Each of the three leads plays their roles with passion and the viewer feels what they are going through. Even Master P the king of ghetto method acting gives a good performance.