Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A lot of fun.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

I'll get this out of the way first: the budget of this film isn't fantastic. Nearly all of the action takes place in the titular Fortress, which consists of a handful of sets used two or three times over. There is also a truly awful make up job - a 'tattoo' that more resembles an enthusiastic black marker.That aside...Despite said bad make up, Fortress features some extremely good practical effects. While avoiding spoilers, some very messy deaths are involved with characters being literally blown apart. These look frankly fantastic, especially (as I'm sure you've heard from every other critic ever) compared to CGI deaths in PG-13 films today. There's something visceral and authentic about them...the idea that what you're seeing is really happening.And despite being restricted to one location, Fortress certainly makes the most of what it has. The Fortress is very well designed, packed with containment systems that the protagonist turns against it. Granted, there is some silliness involved - apparently, there is only one non-lethal way to subdue prisoners, and after that it's straight on to 'blow-to-bits'. But -and this is important- all of it is for a reason. You don't get the sense that something is there just to facilitate someone using it to escape, and indeed the design appears to be based on a real-life idea from Britain - the Panopticon, emphasising prisoners' fear of being watched more than actual effort spent watching them.Characters, then. Honestly, Christopher Lambert's acting is the worst part of the film. In fact, I get the impression that a certain sequence was made just for him, since all he needs to do is zone out for a few hours. It's as if his batteries ran out one day, but the crew had to keep filming so they quickly wrote in an in-story excuse. His character isn't that interesting either - ex-army, highly decorated, a typical 90s interchangeable backstory with little impact on the plot. However, this is more than made up for by the antagonist, Prison Director Poe.Unlike normal villains of the genre, Poe isn't a cartoon character given form - indeed, Kurtwood Smith is rather subdued even by normal villain standards, contrasting with his earlier role as Clarence Boddicker. And also unlike Boddicker, Poe's actually a fairly interesting character - though an aloof, even sadistic Warden, we do see what little personal life he has, and are continually reminded in his scenes that he's still a person - he has tastes, even loves, and by the end of the film it's not even clear whether he's the real bad guy. The rest of the supporting cast do an okay job - I can't think of a stand out performance though everyone does their jobs well. Honourable mention goes to the writers and the director for giving a female character many good action scenes and half of a subplot, even when it would have been incredibly easy to neglect her as post-victory booty.The setting, I should mention, has a very nice atmosphere. Too many films forget that these days, instead going for a more realistic, bland appearance - comparing the first and second of Nolan's Batman trilogy shows it blatantly. Fortress has a dark, smoky look, which helps greatly both to maintain an oppressive, cyberpunk feel, and hide bad FX which is a nice bonus.This isn't a 'bad but fun film' in my opinion, though some may see it that way. It has that look, sure, and if the creators had cast Arnie in the role then it well may have turned out like that. But it has some depth - beyond the exploding bodies and in places absent acting there is thought. If anything, I'd liken it to a Paul Verhoeven film - entertaining, but still immersive, maybe even though provoking.

In the future it's forbidden to give birth to more than one child for each woman.You can escape to Mexico to avoid the authorities in USA, which is exactly what John and Karen Brennick were trying to do when Karen is pregnant with her second child.When they think they have made it they are discovered and sent to the Fortress, where the prisoners are controlled by lasers, neutron-cannons, cameras, mind-scanners and electronic pain-causing devices in their stomachs.With those odds, John plans to escape with his wife....Here in England, this was released a the worst time possible, literally four weeks after 'No Escape' so by then people would have had their fill of inescapable prison movies.Luckily though, this film never takes itself seriously, and it can be at times,a lot of campy nonsense.Lambert is good as the lead, but a lot of the time, his threats are a little laughable. The story and the set up are smart, but the actual narrative lets it down a little.The final third is what you would expect, with Lambert with his Raiden hair, spilling blue blood everywhere.Fun while it lasts, and then once the sentence is over, you won't remember a single thing from it.

This is not a great work of art but it is a great work of popcorn eating genre watching. Everyman against evil corporation in a scary future.Shades of Margaret Atwood for those who might not know who she is. ["The Handmaid's Tale is worth reading or watching -- it is quite readable Atwood, the film pretty good too.] The film should not be confused with a lesser known foreign genre flick by the same name about a schoolteacher trying to escape a different kind of danger with her school children. Again, both the film and book is worthwhile.Anyway, so, a man (Christopher Lambert, perfect genre everyman) has to escape from a prison to save his wife with the help of the likes of Jeffrey Combs (taking a break from trying to bring things to life) against the evil Kurtwood Smith (of course!). Great for late night viewing. Don't take too seriously!

After making an astounding breakthrough into the horror genre with the splatter classic RE-ANIMATOR, Stuart Gordon's career has consisted of a wild string of hits & misses. His biggest miss was Fortress, a futuristic prison breakout film that was also his biggest hit, proving so popular that a sequel came out half a decade later.When I said "his biggest miss", I meant that despite being a box-office hit, the film met with a mixed reaction from critics & genre fans alike. I personally don't like the film – Fortress is sci-fi at its most brainless. It is perhaps the worst film that Gordon has ever made (not to mention being so cheesy that it will win a French cheese competition).The USA has become a totalitarian regime, with a law passed that limits a woman to one child only. Marine Captain John Brennick & his wife, who is pregnant with her second child (the first died at birth), are caught at a checkpoint & sent to the Fortress, a secluded underground prison complex situated in the middle of a desert. There, prisoners are terrorised by pain-causing implants & computer-controlled devices that censor dreams. Brennick attempts to conduct a prison breakout, no mean feat considering that the prison is virtually escape-proof.Fortress is actually a wild concoction of every sci-fi cliché under the sun, which, although entertaining in the check-your-brain-at-the-door sense, proves to be amazingly silly. First, the film shows the US adopting a one-child policy, which is rather improbable given the fact that the US is a large country & is not packed to the brim like China, thereby making such a law pointless. The implants are another thing – they are poorly designed (they can be pulled out of the prisoner's body using magnetics) & there is nothing to stop them from being passed out as waste matter. The dream censor is ridiculous to say the least – if they can eliminate wet dreams, then why are prisoners going around raping their fellow inmates. The film also shoves in cyborgs (a staple of many self-respecting genre films during the 1990s), with a cyborg governor (who acts more human than machine) & whole cyborg SWAT teams, who prove to be nothing more than convenient cannon fodder for our hero, although they do kill half the escaping party.The acting is rather mixed. Christopher Lambert does his naughty-schoolboy impression (he is one of the most wooden actors around), while his fellow inmates are a lot more believable, with Jeffery Combs playing a jittery-nutbag to perfection & Kurtwood Smith trying to be a sympathetic villain, but narrowly missing out on that role by Tom Towles. Gordon throws in his usual darkly comedic splatter, which does contribute greatly to the film's watchability, although it is a style which belongs more to the horror genre than an action film like Fortress.