Lockdown

I was eager to see Lockdown as its a movie i quite simply missed in the past. Finally got around to grabbing it on DVD for cheap and it was certainly a good movie and I'm pleased to have it in the collection but being a huge fan of the old HBO Gritty Prison drama OZ and a fan of Prison Break this did definitely have its weaknesses. At times it dragged on and just didn't always have the full hard hitting grit i thought it would have. I did expect more from this movie. It was great to have a ghetto based prison movie as i have not seen one in a long time - the last one i saw was Prison Song with Q Tip (great film!) Lockdown gets a 7 out of 10 from me. A good watch but not enough gritty surprises it was quite predictable.

Right - another prison flick. Another movie about a young black man, in this case 3 young black men, wrongly accused of a crime, convicted and sent to prison. The statement behind that injustice is bold enough. It's a bit "Boyz n the Hood" up to that point. Once it hits the prison - there are few comparisons to match some of the intensity (how's that for ambiguity?).

This movie has a few valuable segments worth the rest of its deficits. A few scenes may take you to a place you do not want ever to be. There are moments in the prison scenes where the actors are so credible it might as well be real. The directing had flickers of greatness to capture that intensity.

But just like that, in a flicker you're back to watching a $2 film worth a penny. Just watch it for the acting and directing behind a few prison scenes that fairly represent "Lockdown".

I am a big fan of prison movies but this movie really did not work for me. The plot was not very interesting with cookie cutter characters on top of that the acting was pretty poor. It rates four beers on my beer/movie rating system.

If you like 'Oz' you'll enjoy this movie.Predominately a African American cast,this is one of those movies white america will not embrace,and because of that it will get undeserved negative criticism.If you've been behind bars,you will relate and love this movie more than the average person.But even if you haven't been in the pen,this flic is entertaining with some real scenes that depict life when your freedom is taken away. ****/5.

Many references to HBO's Oz have been made about this movie. The two are similar, but the gangs focused on here are limited to the Blacks and Aryans. The colorful actors are convincing in their roles. Master P comes across as a worthy heavy. Craig T. Jones provides the great contrast of clean cut protagonist. With a plethera of unwatchable exploitive black urban videos, Lockdown is a high quality cut above.