Film titles are confusing.
Hey up, it's Rudy from "Misfits"!
Depending on where you are in the world, the latest sci-fi action flick from Luc Besson’s Europa Corp is titled “Escape From MS One” or “Lock Out: Maximum Security”. It’s enough to cause mucho confusion down the multiplex on a Saturday night, should your mind not be on your viewing game.
Who let Michael Bay behind the camera?
I’m probably preferring the “Escape From MS One” variant, if I’m honest, as it offers a subtle homage to the discerning nerd cineaste that this film is wholly in thrall to John Carpenter’s glorious “Escape from New York” (and “Escape from LA”, of which we don’t speak) and no greater template could a genre film-maker have than that snarky, mean-spirited and singular B-movie.
Near orbit, zero-G, white knuckle base jumping, anybody?
There’s a bit more action in this trailer – not all of it brilliant, some of it looking like it escaped from a PS2 game cut-scene – and a bit less of Guy Pearce being all hard-boiled and bad-assed, but the cumulative effect still has me keen to go and support a smaller-scale genre picture when it opens in April.
It’s all about balance, really. $200 million blockbusters are all very nice but a decent B-movie warms the cockles of my heart. And if John Carpenter can’t (or doesn’t want to) make this kind of movie any longer, I’m kind of glad that Luc Besson’s production auspices are letting them happen.
