Fighting movies like Beatdown and Locked Down aspire to many not-so lofty things. Their target audience wants blood, bruises, and breasts with a soundtrack by bands who want to be the next Linkin Park. While Locked Down aspires to these goals, it is rare to see a fighting film that wants to be The Shawshank Redemption with kung fu. Locked Down is not likely to win awards anytime soon and I cannot really recommend it. However, I did not hate this movie which is much more than I expected.
In Locked Down, Danny (Tony Schiena) is an undercover cop who is framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Soon after he arrives in prison, he is recruited to the underground fight club where criminals fight to the death, run by boss Anton (Vinnie Jones) and Flores (Bai Ling). Danny’s cellmate Irving (Dave Fennoy) helps Danny train for the matches and gets him a job in the laundry room. Meanwhile, Gwen (Sarah Ann Schultz), a young naïve lawyer, tries to help clear Danny’s name and figure out who set him up.
For fans of The Shawshank Redemption, Danny is Tim Robbin’s character and Irving is Morgan Freeman’s character, down to the secret tunnel out of the prison and secret stash of money on the outside. The difference here is that Irving is training Danny to fight cage matches to the death, and the movie cares less about developing characters than just getting along to the next fight scene.
As I said before, these fight movies are targeting a certain demographic, and as a film major and a woman, I’m not exactly in that demographic. To my credit, though, I did my best to set the right mood for this movie. My husband and I got burgers, cheese fries, and a six-pack of beer, and we took a moment to lower our expectations. After all, Beatdown was still fresh in our minds, and seeing Vinnie Jones’ name on the cover only reminded us how little Danny Trejo was actually used in Beatdown. Luckily, Vinnie Jones is in Locked Down quite a bit more than Trejo was in Beatdown and actually is developed a little bit as a character. When I got bored, his character helped the movie move along a little quicker.
The problem with Locked Down is that beyond Vinnie Jones and a fight with Kimbo Slice, the movie is pretty boring and predictable. These fight movies are always predictable, but the best ones are the ones who know what they are and have fun with it. They needed more blood and bruising, boobs and brawn, and built beefcakes. (Shall I continue with the alliterations?) Instead, we got an unconvincing romantic subplot which I know I didn’t care about and I seriously doubt the film’s target audience cared about either. On a side note, I am as much a feminist as the next woman, but when you have a chick fight in a movie like this, they need to be half-naked and really railing into each other. I don’t see the point if they aren’t ripping out each other’s hair or ripping off each other’s clothes, and if there is a kiddie pool full of mud nearby, they need to get down and dirty.
If you have lots of beer and a few hours to kill, I guess you could watch Locked Down, but I don’t see why you would. Honestly, this movie was so generic that I forgot about it shortly after watching it. For people who want to get their fill of good fights, I recommend checking out Jackie Chan’s first big films. The Legend of Drunken Master, for example, shows that you can make a very entertaining movie that also features incredibly choreographed fights that push the limits of the human body. Also, considering that it is the Christmas season, pick up the original Die Hard. John McClane provides plenty of testosterone cred, and as much as I enjoy Vinnie Jones, Hans Gruber could kick Anton’s butt any day of the week.
DVD Bonus Features
The Blu-ray release comes with commentary by the writer and director Daniel Zirilli and star Tony Schiena as well as interviews with the cast, a featurette on the fight sequences, and a behind the scenes look at the making of Locked Down.
"Locked Down" is on sale December 9, 2010 and is rated R. Action, Crime, Martial-Arts. Directed by Daniel Zirilli. Written by Daniel Zirilli, D. Glase Lomond, Bobby Mort. Starring Dave Fennoy, Kimbo Slice, Ling Bai, Sarah Ann Schultz, Tony Schiena, Vinnie Jones.
