TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

slightlymad22 Continuing my plan to watch every Sly Stallone movie in order, I come to 1989's Lock Up. Plot In A Paragraph: With only 6 months left of his prison sentence inmate Frank Leone (Stallone) is transferred from minimum security to maximum security by a vindictive warden (Donald Sutherland) who has a score to settle.Not dramatic or brutal enough to be considered a serious drama, without enough action to call it an action flick, it's somewhere inbetween the two, but if you can ignore the implausibility of the plot, 'Lock Up' is very enjoyable. I rate this as one of the better non franchise movies in Sly's career. A rare occasion where Stallone appears not to have meddled with the script, and the movie seems to be the better for it. Sly is back in underdog territory, the role that suits him best. Donald Sutherland looks to be having a great time as a pantomime villain, and John Amos (an actor I always enjoy seeing on screen) is as reliable and solid as ever. Tom Sizemore (in his breakout role) steals every scene he is in as Dallas, and if his role had been a bit better written, and more fleshed out, he would have walked away with the full movie. Frank McRae again pops up (This is the last time) with Sly after 'FIST', 'Paradise Alley' and 'Rocky 2' The score by Bill Conti (who else) is again another winner. Especially during the football match.

Rob Sweeney Lock Up will not be the most memorable film, but Stallone did a much better job than he usually does, and the film had a good depiction of the jail as a real hell.It could have been a very good movie, but it was just way too predictable. If Leone is getting beat up in a rugby game and they show a guy concerned in the back, will the guy help him? Of course he does. If Leone tells a guy only to start a car and drive it, will the guy drive it? Of course he does. And does Leone get punished instead of the guy? of course he does... I mean, you predicted it way before it actually happened. I wanted to be surprised, but you never will be in this movie. I actually fell asleep watching it, too slow at the start.Corrupt prison movie. Good action in the end. If you like Stallone and Donald Sutherland, they'll do justice to the movie.

Desertman84 Lock Up is an prison action melodrama that features Sylvester Stallone and Donald Sutherland. It tells the story of Frank Leone,an auto mechanic that was sent to prison.The rest of the cast includes John Amos,Darlanne Fluegel,Frank McRae and Sonny Landham.It was directed by John Flynn.Frank Leone was sent to prison when he was arrested for beating up the punks and the criminals that killed his mentor.He was sentence to six months at a minimum security prison.But Warden Drumgoole had something against Leone and had a score to settle with that is why he was transferred from a minimum security prison into a maximum- security prison.This led Frank to escape his situation by becoming a one-man army ala Rambo.This is definitely one laughable action melodrama without the intention of being one.Everything was alright until Leone decided to become Rambo in the end.Too bad that producers never gave a green light to shoot a Rambo 4 during its theatrical release and came up with Lock Up instead.No wonder it got a lot of Razzies that includes Worst Picture as well as Worst Actor for Stallone and Worst Supporting Actor for Sutherland.In the end,it was one forgettable movie.

Shawn Watson In the same year he escaped from prison with Kurt Russell in Tango & Cash, Stallone was locked-up again in this gritty, grim thriller. Frank Leone is an ordinary man forced into avenging thugs who beat-up his kindly old mentor. He's put in prison for the crime but escapes just before his sentence is up so he can be with the old man at his deathbed. His escape and subsequent publicity shames Warden Drumgoole (a very evil Donald Sutherland), who is blacklisted with in the Penal system. Leone serves out his remaining six months in a cozy, minimum security facility and dreams of returning home to his girlfriend. In the middle of the night he is dragged from his bed and taken to Drumgoole's new domain; Gateway, the worst prison in America. Drumgoole intends to make Leone serve very, very hard time, pushing him to his limits in hope that he might lash out and thus extend his sentence.It goes through a lot of prison movie clichés, and I guess it doesn't really stand out against the better or more exciting movies in the genre. It entertains and is occasionally engaging, but is by no means a classic. The animosity between Leone and Drumgoole is interesting, and the casting of crazy Sonny Landham as the yard boss is quite scary, but again, these are all clichés. Stallone brought back Bill Conti (his old pal from the Rocky movies) to score the movie, but he effort is totally inappropriate and the light touch to the music spoils the intensity of many scenes. A different composer might have resulted in a more memorable movie. You'll never really feel the need to revisit Lock Up after a single viewing.