When you really think about it, there are not too many "prison films" that are below average in terms of overall quality. Just by myself, I can think of three (Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest) that are spectacular. This film won't break that trend, but it just barely squeaks by in the task.For a basic plot summary, Lock Up sees Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone), a minimum-security prisoner, transported to a "hard time" type facility by Warden Drumgoole (Donald Sutherland), who is intent on torturing Leone for a past transgression. While in the slammer, Leone is pushed to the very brink of his sanity, and quite possibly beyond.In terms of overall quality, this movie isn't that bad at all. It has some decent drama, some funny/interesting characters, and at least a semblance of a romantic angle that will emotionally draw some people into the film. Of course, for action/Stallone buffs, there are plenty of fight scenes and muscle-bearing to satisfy you, too.Here is the main problem that bogs this movie down to "average": the "relationship" between Leone and Drumgoole (the key players in the film) is so far-fetched as to be laughable. The Warden explicitly orders both the physical and emotional torture of Leone time and time again, to the point where I could not believe that even the most sadistic of Wardens could ever get away with something like that. Sutherland's character is turned into little more than a grinning, glaring, Nazi-like figure with no other dimensions.Thus, if you are a big fan of this type of "behind bars" drama, this movie will likely do it for you. If not, though, it can be skipped due to its inane main plot and sparing emotional depth.

The movie surrounds the character Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone) who is forced into another prison against his will and then bizarre and crazy things starts to happen and he need to help his friends and himself from trouble. The so called warden (Donald Sutherland) makes the prison life a living hell for Frank and it gets harder and harder to survive in prison. Now I have heard so many times people complaining about Stallone's acting abilities but I think he is such an underrated actor and I do not think he deserves all the crap he's gotten through the years and this movie sure proves that he can make the audience get emotions and care for his character (great acting!). When you get emotions towards the good guys and when you feel hatred towards the bad guys you know you've made a great movie. The movie takes the viewer on a wild journey and you're on your edge of your seat almost throughout the whole movie. The movie caught my interest immediately when I saw that Stallone and director John Flynn (who directed one of my favorite horror flicks "Brainscan")was involved. There's just something about prison movies in general, they almost never disappoint you. This is by far one of Stallone's best performances ever if you ask me. This movie gets an excellent rating of 10/10 stars from me.

Interesting thing - This could have been a "Rambo" movie. It would had taken place after "First Blood"."Lock up" is an ambitious movie that tries hard to tell something , but ends as a cheesy , clichéd and pointless movie. It's "Shawshank Redemption" for dummies. It has some good elements in it , but it's still a bombastic , over the top fare that it's hard to take seriously.The whole conflict in "Lock up" is ridiculous . It's basically a story of Devil (prison warden) trying to break down Jesus (the prisoner) . Everything is black and white here , there's no moral ambiguity . Furthermore , I fail to see what's the point of this movie is. That the justice system is flawed ? That the prison wardens and guards are sociopaths who enjoy torturing innocent prisoners ? That the prisoners are mostly good people who deserve respect ? Honestly , I don't know what the movie is trying to say here .The other serious problem of the movie is the acting of Sylvester Stallone and Donald Sutherland. Not only their characters are terribly one dimensional ( one is 100 % good , the other is 100 % bad) , but both of them give hammy performances. Stallone lacks expression , while Sutherland tries too hard to show how evil he is.The final nail to the coffin is the predictable , cheesy and cliché screenplay. It does seem to move from one sadistic act to another. The villains are never subtle. The dialogues are often laughable ("Rape my fist") . The friendship that Leone forms with a small group of other inmates is downright school-girlish (the spray fight !). There's nothing realistic about the whole story and that's why it's hard to be emotionally involved with what is happening on the screen.There are good elements. "Lock up" is nicely directed by John Flynn ("Rolling thunder" , "Bestseller") .The score by Bill Conti (Rocky") is good. The movie looks great - the prison used here was the East Jersey State Prison in Rahway, New Jersey. The cast includes real inmates of Rahway State Prison. Chuck Wepner, the real-life inspiration for Rocky Balboa, was an inmate at the prison where the film was shot.The supporting cast is pretty strong with Tom Sizemore ("Passenger 57") , Frank McRae ("48 ours") , Sonny Landham ("Predator") , Darlanne Fluegal ("To live and die in LA") and Danny Trejo ("Desperado")."Lock up" is a bad movie , but somewhat entertaining , especially if you don't take it seriously. It won't be until the 1997 when Stallone will make a good drama with the good and underrated "Copland" . I give "Lock up" 2/10.

Sylvester Stallone plays a mechanic serving time in a minimum-security prison. He's been a model prisoner, liked by everybody, and even allowed to leave the prison on furlough. One night he's awakened in his bed by armed guards and forcibly taken to a maximum security prison, headed by a sadistic warden (Donald Sutherland) with an ax to grind with Sly. He's told he will have to serve out the remainder of his sentence there and Sutherland makes it clear life will be hell for him.Sly's terrific. He's always been an underrated actor. Sutherland, as he often does, overacts and uses at least three different accents before settling on one. Since Sutherland is hardly a physical threat to Stallone, they added Sonny Landham as the tough-ass prisoner who torments our hero. Tom Sizemore is a snitch. John Amos plays a guard who seems bad but turns out to be okay. My favorite character was probably Frank McRae as a huge prisoner who comes to Sly's aid ("F train, son. F train.").What would an '80s Stallone movie be without a montage? There's a fun one here as Sly bonds with his fellow cons restoring an old car. Despite being a prison flick, it's not really like the exploitation prison movies of the '70s and early '80s. Implausible to the extreme but also entertaining.