You are probably wondering what kind of film this is. No, it's not a porn film. It's just to point out the many oddities that are featured in this film. I will leave it up to you if that is a good thing or not. Back in the days when I was a regular visitor of the video rental shops I wouldn't hesitate picking up the latest titles since frankly unlike now the quantity of releases was significantly less than now. While for sure some films were bad it never actually stopped you from renting them. If like me you had seen a lot you were counting on the newest releases and you couldn't afford to be picky. Besides Christopher Lambert could do no wrong purely based on his involvement with The Highlander franchise. In those days I also had no clue who Stuart Gordon was. In hindsight, it should have been obvious. His stamp is all over the film.
So what is Fortress? If you think this is just a generic B action flick you would be mistaken. I'd say it's more a horror film disguised as a generic B action flick. Since to be honest a lot of events in this film are pretty relentless and gruesome. In another review I read that someone stated this to be Escape Plan if it had been good. This would imply Escape Plan is bad. Not in a long shot. However it is less sci fi than Fortress. While Fortress also can't escape it's simple premise it does attempt to do more with the little they have been given. The world depicted is a truly horrific place where people are imprisoned for having an extra baby even if the first baby never made it. While on a pragmatic level I understand why a country like China would enforce laws like these one could argue if things are really this black and white and if instead of following the rules to the letter should look at the spirit of the law. Well, this doesn't exist in this film. You are a criminal pure and simple. Where do they lock up these people? In an underground prison built with all kinds of traps and measures it's ensure you will never ever leave it alive. Sure because breeders deserve this kind of punishment. Anyway Christopher Lambert's plans are to escape this prison once he finds out his pregnant wife didn't manage to escape like he initially thought. I will spare you the details but it's not going to be pretty.
For one thing whether you like it or not you are going to be exposed to Christopher Lambert's balls. In a sex scene between him and actress Loryn Locklin as his character's wife it almost looks like he is penetrating her for real since she is sitting on his balls. It's hard to make out if that really occurs. But this being Hollywood I am pretty sure it's an illusion. And of course it's not real. No way, any actress would be ok with this even if maybe at the time she might have a thing for Lambert. And I am not stating they had anything. Just saying that if this were the case it still would be very unlikely such a thing would happen. But why though? Why was it necessary to show us this? Perhaps he did it to mess with us. Whatever the case, this alone was enough for me to re-evaluate what I initially thought of this film. I once thought this film was good. Now? I still think it's good. Although there are some elements to this film that are pretty confronting. Like for example the prison system in the United States. In Fortress things are exaggerated but do point out measures that are being carried out today. This film will definitely help you reconsider doing criminal things ever.
Most important to note is that despite the horrors Fortress is a lot of fun. It can be disgusting but I couldn't help stop laughing at the justice that was served to all the bad guys in this film. So certainly one to watch. Especially if you are a fan of Stuart's Gordon work.
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