Fortress

1992 | 95 minutes | 6.0 ★ (638)

Fortress
  • Overview

    In the future, the inmates of a private underground prison are computer-controlled with cameras, dream readers, and devices that can cause pain or death. John and his illegally pregnant wife Karen are locked inside "The Fortress" but are determined to escape before the birth of their baby.

  • Release Date

    18 December 1992

  • DirectingStuart Gordon
  • Budget

    $8,000,000.00

  • Revenue

    $6,739,141.00

  • Stars

Videos

User Reviews

See more
FMN

Filipe Manuel Neto

15 August 2023

**This average quality film has creativity and some good qualities, but it can't overcome all the problems it faces.** I didn't have very high expectations when I decided to see this movie. I knew that it was a film set in a future that, for us, is now past (the year 2017) and that it was yet another film about a prison break. I also knew that it had been a success in Europe, especially on the VHS market, and that it had been forgotten since the end of the tapes and no one was talking about it anymore. So, I decided to take a look, see if it was worth it, and I liked what I saw. It is a creative film, made by people with ideas and the ability to come up with imaginative solutions, based on a competent cast, and which made good use of its short budget. The script takes us to a high-security prison, built underground in the United States desert, in order to accompany a couple who have just been arrested for trying to have a second child, something prohibited by the “one-child policy” then in effect. strength in the USA. Sentenced to the outrageous sentence of 31 years in prison, they are placed inside that place, where everything is controlled by a computer and depends on a vicious and sadistic director, and on the computer system itself, which sometimes seems to have a life of its own. Even the dreams of these inmates are controlled and censored via a mechanism installed in the gut, and that could kill them if they step over the risk (literally). The script has a serious problem: it is based on an old premise that is prison escapes. We've seen a lot of them already, because almost every great fugue in history has been adapted for the screen in some way. However, the film tries to get around the problem with doses of imagination and creativity that futurism accepts well. The graphic violence of some scenes can also bother some people, but I think I've even seen worse. But be warned: we have everything from exploding intestines to half-human androids with a misshapen appearance. There is an investment in visual effects, special effects, make-up, quality sets and costumes, and this investment has paid off. Unfortunately, the cinematography is not very good, it is even below the standard of the time the film was made, but I coped well with it. Stuart Gordon gives the film a well-executed, effective direction, managing to take full advantage of what he has to work with. Christopher Lambert, the eternal McLeod, is in excellent shape here and does a solid job, even if the role is simple and effortless. Kurtwood Smith is an efficient villain, cold and worthy of our contempt, but he also provokes some sympathy for his quest for a certain warmth that his character has lost. Loryn Locklin is also a welcome addition, but I felt several times that the character had little to do and was limited to being a damsel in distress. Tom Towles, Clifton Collins Jr., Vernon Wells, Jeffrey Combs and Lincoln Kilpatrick provide effective support, but they can do no more.

More Like This

Cherry 2000

Cherry 2000

When successful businessman Sam Treadwell finds that his android wife, Cherry model 2000 has blown a fuse, he hires sexy renegade tracker E...

See more
White Heat

White Heat

A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and then leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. After...

See more
Die Hard

Die Hard

NYPD cop John McClane's plan to reconcile with his estranged wife is thrown for a serious loop when, minutes after he arrives at her office, the...

See more
Starship Troopers

Starship Troopers

Set in the future, the story follows a young soldier named Johnny Rico and his exploits in the Mobile Infantry. Rico's military career progresses...

See more
The Experiment

The Experiment

20 volunteers agree to take part in a seemingly well-paid experiment advertised by the university. It is supposed to be about aggressive behavior...

See more
The Matrix

The Matrix

Set in the 22nd century, The Matrix tells the story of a computer hacker who joins a group of underground insurgents fighting the vast and powerful...

See more
The Matrix Reloaded

The Matrix Reloaded

Six months after the events depicted in The Matrix, Neo has proved to be a good omen for the free humans, as more and more humans are being freed...

See more
The Matrix Revolutions

The Matrix Revolutions

The human city of Zion defends itself against the massive invasion of the machines as Neo fights to end the war at another front while also...

See more
Lost Highway

Lost Highway

A tormented jazz musician finds himself lost in an enigmatic story involving murder, surveillance, gangsters, doppelgängers, and an impossible...

See more
Metropolis

Metropolis

In a futuristic city sharply divided between the rich and the poor, the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who predicts the coming of a...

See more
Twelve Monkeys

Twelve Monkeys

In the year 2035, convict James Cole reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus that wiped out nearly...

See more
Brazil

Brazil

Low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry escapes the monotony of his day-to-day life through a recurring daydream of himself as a virtuous hero saving a...

See more
War of the Worlds

War of the Worlds

Ray Ferrier is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son and young...

See more
Blade Runner

Blade Runner

In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who...

See more
Miami Vice

Miami Vice

A case involving drug lords and murder in South Florida takes a personal turn for undercover detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs...

See more
Tron

Tron

When brilliant video game maker Flynn hacks the mainframe of his ex-employer, he is beamed inside an astonishing digital world...and becomes part...

See more
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Two warriors in pursuit of a stolen sword and a notorious fugitive are led to an impetuous, physically-skilled, teenage nobleman's daughter, who is...

See more
Akira

Akira

A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a...

See more
48 Hrs.

48 Hrs.

A hard-nosed cop reluctantly teams up with a wise-cracking criminal temporarily paroled to him, in order to track down a killer.

See more
The 6th Day

The 6th Day

A world of the very near future in which cattle, fish, and even the family pet can be cloned. But cloning humans is illegal - that is until family...

See more