Fortress

Stuart Gordon calls this prison movie 'a sort of science-fiction version of The Great Escape'. Regrettably, Lambert, imprisoned because his pregnant wife is about to exceed the government limit of children allowed a married couple, is no Steve McQueen. Built 30 storeys below ground, the state-of-the-art prison features laser bars, robot guards and a nasty device called the Intestinator. 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.