X
- 1993
- R
- Dimension Films
- 1 h 35 m
- 1993
- R
- Dimension Films
- 1 h 35 m
Summary In a future, private underground prison/Fortress, the inmates are computer controlled with CCTV, dream readers and devices that can cause pain or death. John and his illegally pregnant wife are inside but want to escape before birth.
Directed By: Stuart Gordon
- 1993
- R
- Dimension Films
- 1 h 35 m
- 1993
- R
- Dimension Films
- 1 h 35 m
Fortress
48
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Summary In a future, private underground prison/Fortress, the inmates are computer controlled with CCTV, dream readers and devices that can cause pain or death. John and his illegally pregnant wife are inside but want to escape before birth.
Directed By: Stuart Gordon
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
48
33% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
44% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
22% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
48
33% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
44% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
22% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
Fortress doesn't dig enough beneath its own surface, or create the tension it should. But its originality and taut muscularity make up for those limitations, and a winning supporting cast makes up for the granite-headed Lambert (already lined up for a sequel), who is only marginally less robotic than anything he's fighting. Locklin is bright and appealing. And "Re-Animator" star Jeffrey Combs keeps the party hopping as an explosives expert in the nerdy Bud Cort/wasted hippie mold. "This is highly sensitive," he says, examining a potent device. "We are talking TNT on PMS!" [6 Sept 1993, p.21]
For all its faults, Fortress has an unusually energetic imagination. At its best, it blends "Robocop," "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Brave New World" into something scary, original and grimly amusing.
Nothing about the outcome of "Fortress" will surprise anyone, but getting to that point entails some nerve-racking excitement and even a few laughs. A raft of top-flight special effects add visual and conceptual interest to the proceedings - that Gordon wisely limits to 90 minutes - while an actor named Jeffrey Combs (in the role of a gonzo computer whiz named D-Day) does a crackerjack job in support. [10 Sept 1993, p.L22]
You don't walk into Fortress expecting much, and the fact that it entertains as well as it does comes as a surprise. There's plenty of violence and gore here -- Gordon hasn't forgotten his Re-Animator roots -- and the plot offers enough curves and twists to make you overlook the movie's limitations. [7 Sept 1993, p.D6]
While confined to the futuristic prison interiors, the film works reasonably well; but once Lambert springs his wife from the women's section and escapes, the limitations of budget and narrative imagination start to show. As it moves away from the ensemble feel of the early scenes, this quickly degenerates into a part explosive, part sentimental star vehicle.
A moment past its concept, Fortress settles into a mix of sci-fi and prison cliches that result in predictable and often silly confrontations, including a not-so-great escape. Much of the blame lies with Lambert, as vapid here as he has been in the "Highlander" fiascoes.
Even the requisite gore is sub-par, so it's not even neat when some poor sap explodes and his entrails whiz by. Perhaps Gordon should go back to mining H.P. Lovecraft's territory.
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Awards
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
• 1 Nomination
Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
