In the same year he escaped from prison with Kurt Russell in Tango & Cash, Stallone was locked-up again in this gritty, grim thriller. Frank Leone is an ordinary man forced into avenging thugs who beat-up his kindly old mentor. He's put in prison for the crime but escapes just before his sentence is up so he can be with the old man at his deathbed. His escape and subsequent publicity shames Warden Drumgoole (a very evil Donald Sutherland), who is blacklisted with in the Penal system. Leone serves out his remaining six months in a cozy, minimum security facility and dreams of returning home to his girlfriend. In the middle of the night he is dragged from his bed and taken to Drumgoole's new domain; Gateway, the worst prison in America. Drumgoole intends to make Leone serve very, very hard time, pushing him to his limits in hope that he might lash out and thus extend his sentence.
It goes through a lot of prison movie clichés, and I guess it doesn't really stand out against the better or more exciting movies in the genre. It entertains and is occasionally engaging, but is by no means a classic. The animosity between Leone and Drumgoole is interesting, and the casting of crazy Sonny Landham as the yard boss is quite scary, but again, these are all clichés. Stallone brought back Bill Conti (his old pal from the Rocky movies) to score the movie, but he effort is totally inappropriate and the light touch to the music spoils the intensity of many scenes. A different composer might have resulted in a more memorable movie. You'll never really feel the need to revisit Lock Up after a single viewing.
It goes through a lot of prison movie clichés, and I guess it doesn't really stand out against the better or more exciting movies in the genre. It entertains and is occasionally engaging, but is by no means a classic. The animosity between Leone and Drumgoole is interesting, and the casting of crazy Sonny Landham as the yard boss is quite scary, but again, these are all clichés. Stallone brought back Bill Conti (his old pal from the Rocky movies) to score the movie, but he effort is totally inappropriate and the light touch to the music spoils the intensity of many scenes. A different composer might have resulted in a more memorable movie. You'll never really feel the need to revisit Lock Up after a single viewing.