One of my all time favorites.

Best movie ever!

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

How many maximum security prisons have full on garages with beautiful cars in them? I'm guessing not many. Also, think about this...the people in this prison are the scum of the earth - they're murderers, child molesters, the worst people on the planet. But for some reason we're getting behind these people and rooting for them? Only the one guy (Stallone) doesn't deserve to be there. All the rest of them (except for the 1% or so who could be innocent) are revolting, horrible people. Makes "Tango and Cash" look like "Citizen Kane." This turkey is bad from the first moment, with that 80s sentimental/emotional/uplifting synthesizer riff so we know this is the good guy. He's good with children, he's kind, all roses and sunshine. Then the dark scene with the man with the scowl on his face and the music is in minor key. Yep, that's the bad guy. Just in case you didn't pick up on that.

Interesting thing - This could have been a "Rambo" movie. It would had taken place after "First Blood"."Lock up" is an ambitious movie that tries hard to tell something , but ends as a cheesy , clichéd and pointless movie. It's "Shawshank Redemption" for dummies. It has some good elements in it , but it's still a bombastic , over the top fare that it's hard to take seriously.The whole conflict in "Lock up" is ridiculous . It's basically a story of Devil (prison warden) trying to break down Jesus (the prisoner) . Everything is black and white here , there's no moral ambiguity . Furthermore , I fail to see what's the point of this movie is. That the justice system is flawed ? That the prison wardens and guards are sociopaths who enjoy torturing innocent prisoners ? That the prisoners are mostly good people who deserve respect ? Honestly , I don't know what the movie is trying to say here .The other serious problem of the movie is the acting of Sylvester Stallone and Donald Sutherland. Not only their characters are terribly one dimensional ( one is 100 % good , the other is 100 % bad) , but both of them give hammy performances. Stallone lacks expression , while Sutherland tries too hard to show how evil he is.The final nail to the coffin is the predictable , cheesy and cliché screenplay. It does seem to move from one sadistic act to another. The villains are never subtle. The dialogues are often laughable ("Rape my fist") . The friendship that Leone forms with a small group of other inmates is downright school-girlish (the spray fight !). There's nothing realistic about the whole story and that's why it's hard to be emotionally involved with what is happening on the screen.There are good elements. "Lock up" is nicely directed by John Flynn ("Rolling thunder" , "Bestseller") .The score by Bill Conti (Rocky") is good. The movie looks great - the prison used here was the East Jersey State Prison in Rahway, New Jersey. The cast includes real inmates of Rahway State Prison. Chuck Wepner, the real-life inspiration for Rocky Balboa, was an inmate at the prison where the film was shot.The supporting cast is pretty strong with Tom Sizemore ("Passenger 57") , Frank McRae ("48 ours") , Sonny Landham ("Predator") , Darlanne Fluegal ("To live and die in LA") and Danny Trejo ("Desperado")."Lock up" is a bad movie , but somewhat entertaining , especially if you don't take it seriously. It won't be until the 1997 when Stallone will make a good drama with the good and underrated "Copland" . I give "Lock up" 2/10.

I really enjoy this movie. I think even thirty years later, this movie still holds up. It's another great Stallone movie and it's very entertaining and enjoyable to watch.In this movie, Frank Leone is nearing the end of his prison sentence for a relatively minor crime. But just before he is paroled, Frank gets transferred from his minimum security prison to a maximum security prison, Warden Drumgoole takes charge. The Warden was assigned to control this hell-hole prison because of Frank's and thinks that now he should pay. He is determined to make Frank's life miserable for as long as possible. Overall, I give this movie a 7 out of 10, which in my ratings book is: Great.

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.