Deadlocked: Escape from Zone 14

I saw today, in a free weekend morning 'Deadlocked' part of the periodic cleaning up of my reserve of VCR recordings. Well, I could have picked up something better to do with my morning. 'Deadlocked' is one of these low budget TV action movies that need either a different idea, or memorable effects, or at least some good acting to resist well the proof of time. Unfortunately this film has nothing of the above - the idea is a combination of the 'escape from hell' and 'corporate crime' themes that we have already seen in two zillion films, most of the gadgets of future_of_1995 already became reality in 2005, and look better in reality and acting is average minus. The film is not completely ridiculous because it was originally made in relative good taste, but looks dusty and completely not interesting today.

Don't worry about me spoiling anything; I didn't finish watching "Deadlocked: Escape from Zone 14." So I can't reveal if Esai Morales & Nia Peeples did a love scene or had their heads explode towards the end of the movie. But watching Esai the cat burglar use his wonderful gadgets that pretty much everybody has today & seeing prisoners' collars blow up their heads were the only interesting things about the movie. Then Esai & Nia escaped the prison. Honestly, I ain't sure why Nia's done so many awful movies; I was shocked to learn she was in "The Young & the Restless" & now "Pretty Little Liars." But still, when you learn the guy from "La Bamba" & "NYPD Blue" is the lead actor, you won't expect star power in "Deadlock: Escape from Zone 14." But at least I learned there's another movie w/ exploding heads besides "The Running Man" & "Warlock."

This film takes place in the not-so-distant future with a high-tech burglar named "Tony Archer" (Esai Morales) attempting to break into the office of a wealthy executive named "Jack Claremont" (Stephen McHattie). His objective is to gather some information which might prove valuable for him later on. Unfortunately, he is caught and subsequently sent to prison-not for breaking and entering-but on the trumped up charge of murder. However, before being sentenced he is told by Jack Claremont that he will arrange his release provided he locates a certain female named "Allie Thompson" (Nia Peeples) who is an inmate at the same prison that he will be incarcerated in. Once that is accomplished he has to somehow acquire the large sum of money Allie stole and bring it back to him. Needless to say, in order to do that Tony has to gain her trust and to do that he decides to help her break out with him from the state-of-the-art facility which has replaced bars with explosive collars that detonate if a person leaves the perimeter of the prison. So being the electrical genius that he is, Tony manages to bypass the prison's electrical perimeter by linking his collar with hers which enables them to escape together. Now all they have to do is to stay within about 30 yards of each other which soon proves to be quite difficult-especially since a large bounty has been placed upon them. Even worse is the fact that they still have to deal with Jack Claremont one way or the other. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this picture was quite similar to its predecessor "Deadlock" which had Rutger Hauer and Mimi Rodgers in the same identical circumstance as the two lead actors here. That being said, while I enjoyed this film and liked the chemistry between Esai Morales and Nia Peeples, I must admit that the first film was better and for that reason I have rated this one slightly lower. Average.

Like "Speed 2 : Cruise Control" & "Under Siege 2 : Dark Territory", "Deadlock 2" has nothing to do with the original. Why can't they just re-name the sequel. That's why I loved "U.S. Marshals" title instead of The Fugitive 2. Anyway, great performances and action keep you going. It should be called "Action on Plains, Trains, & Automobiles" because the film has them all. I can't wait to get it on DVD. A great TV movie to watch on video uncut. See it!