Fortress (1992 film)
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Fortress | |
---|---|
Directed by | Stuart Gordon |
Written by |
|
Produced by | John Davis John Flock |
Starring | |
Cinematography | David Eggby |
Edited by | Tim Wellburn |
Music by | Frédéric Talgorn |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Dimension (North America and Japan; through Miramax Films)[1] Roadshow Film Distributors (Australia) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
Countries | Australia United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $15 million[2] |
Box office | $48 million |
Fortress is a 1992
The film was a financial success, but critical reviews were mixed.
A sequel, Fortress 2: Re-Entry, was released in 2000, with Lambert reprising his role.
Plot
In 2017, the United States is a military dictatorship. Ex-army officer John Henry Brennick and his wife Karen attempt to cross the
Brennick is caught, believing Karen to have escaped, and sentenced to thirty-one years at the Fortress, a maximum security prison run by the Men-Tel Corporation. The prisoners are used as slave labor to further expand the Fortress as part of the
John is imprisoned with inmates Abraham, a model prisoner who works as Poe's manservant and is awaiting parole; D-Day, a machine and demolitions expert; young offender Nino Gomez; and Stiggs, who tries to extort John. John learns that Karen is being held in an upper level with their unborn child, who is now officially owned by Men-Tel and will be incinerated at birth.
Stiggs' friend Maddox instigates a brawl with John; Maddox is shot by a security turret and falls to his death. John grabs Maddox's intestinator and gives it to D-Day before he is taken for a mind-wipe as punishment.
Poe, infatuated with Karen, tells her that if she lives with him, he will release John from the mind-wipe chamber. She accepts. Poe is revealed to be a cyborg. Four months later, a heavily pregnant Karen uses her access to the prison computer in Poe's quarters to restore John from his mind-wiped state. She steals a holographic map and gives it to Abraham to pass on to John. D-Day dismantles Maddox's intestinator and uses a component to remove the others' intestinators.
During a work shift, John's group puts their intestinators in an air-duct and stage a brawl, causing Zed to trigger the devices and blow the duct open to prepare their escape. Poe promptly flushes the duct with steam and sends in "Strike Clones": networked cyborgs armed with flamethrowers and machine guns. Stiggs is shot dead, but the rest of the group seize a Strike Clone and use its weaponry to destroy the remaining Clones.
Zed alerts Poe to Karen's actions. He reveals to her that her child, like all Men-Tel-owned babies, will be extracted by caesarean section and made a cyborg. Poe strangles Abraham.
Hijacking a gun turret to use as an elevator, John's group travels to Zed's control room. John takes Poe hostage and orders him to release Karen. Poe gives the order but Zed refuses, stating that Men-Tel does not negotiate during hostage situations. A gun turret kills Poe, leaving John's group without leverage. D-Day
Cast
- Christopher Lambert as John Henry Brennick, the main protagonist and former captain in the black berets
- Loryn Locklin as Karen B. Brennick, John's wife and a former computer programmer in the Army
- Annika Thomas as Brennick Baby
- Kurtwood Smith as Prison Director Poe
- Clifton Collins, Jr.(credited as Clifton Gonzalez-Gonzalez) as Nino Gomez, John's young cellmate
- Carolyn Purdy-Gordon as Voice of Zed-10, the computer system that oversees the prison
- Lincoln Kilpatrick as Abraham, a prison trusty
- Jeffrey Combs as "D-Day", a computer geek
- Vernon Wells as Maddox, the prison bully
- Tom Towles as Stiggs, Maddox's buddy
- Warwick Capper as Braindead Prisoner, a prisoner who was mind-wiped (uncredited)
- John Pierce as Moustached Prisoner (uncredited)
Production
Fortress was filmed at Village Roadshow Studios and Warner Bros. Movie World[2] Director Stuart Gordon spoke of wanting to address the prison system particularly the shift it experienced during the Presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush where prisons became less focused on rehabilitation and more on punishment.[2] Gordon took visual inspiration for the look of the prison, wanting to keep the film within the realm of possibility despite its sci-fi setting, from Pelican Bay State Prison which Gordon described as having a "Hellish" atmosphere.[2] While the script was written in mind with someone more physically imposing like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gordon felt the main character should be more of an everyman which lead to Christopher Lambert being cast in the role.[2] Lambert often insisted on doing his own stunts which became a point of mild disagreement between Gordon and Lambert.[2]
Release
Home media
Fortress was released on
Alternative ending
The original ending of Fortress has been edited from some versions of the film. After reaching Mexico, Brennick, his wife, and Gomez end up at a barn where she starts going into labor. Gomez goes out to the truck to get a blanket for the soon-to-arrive baby. The Fortress computer, Zed-10, manages to establish a remote linkup with the truck, overriding its internal controls. The truck suddenly comes to life and runs Gomez down, killing him. Brennick shoots the truck with the Strike Clone machine gun until it seems to jam. He then sets it on fire with the flamethrower attachment. The truck crashes into the barn, exploding. Brennick climbs into the burning ruins to find his wife sitting against an old tractor, clutching her newborn baby.
Box office results
Fortress grossed A$2,855,154 at the box office in Australia.[5] Internationally it grossed a total of US$40 million, turning into a profitable movie for having been shot with a budget of $12,000,000.[6]
Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Stephen Holden of The New York Times said: "Like so many other futuristic movies, Fortress is a lot better at setting up its premise than in developing a story around it, [but] for all its faults, [it] has an unusually energetic imagination. At its best, it blends RoboCop, The Handmaid's Tale, and Brave New World into something scary, original and grimly amusing".[7]
Cult cinema writer David Harkin suggests that "Fortress carries on the tropes of countless prison movies: badass cellmates, a seemingly escapable prison, and a sadistic prison warden".[8]
Nathan Shumate of Cold Fusion Video Reviews said: "It's a good little film, kept very interesting by a multitude of plot twists. [...] The beauty of this movie is that it's not terribly ambitious; [director Stuart] Gordon knew that it was not meant to be this generation's defining science fiction film, and so instead had fun with it. The characters are colorful and engaging, and the actors are b-movie all-stars; the story moves along at a fair clip; and the prison itself is a novel setting, with plenty of inconsistencies in future technology but none that sit up and insist that you notice them".[9]
James Berardinelli of ReelViews said: "Fortress has [...] an impressive visual style, [...] the set design is excellent, and the action scenes are well-paced, [but it's] hampered by a poorly-constructed story line [and] never gets on track. Instead of entering the rarefied atmosphere inhabited by such films as Aliens and the original Terminator, it falls in line with the likes of Freejack and Alien 3".[10]
Sequel
A sequel titled Fortress 2: Re-Entry was released in 2000.
See also
- List of films featuring surveillance
- List of prison films
- Private prison
- Prison-industrial complex
References
- ^ Frook, John Evan (27 August 1993). "Miramax Films goes wide with 'Fortress'". Variety. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f Scapperotti, Dan (August 1993). "Fortress". Cinefantastique. Fourth Castle Micromedia. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
- ^ "Fortress (1992) on Blu-ray 27 January 2013". Blu-ray.com. 5 February 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- ^ "Fortress (1992) on Blu-ray, Spain release 9 December 2015". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- ^ "Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office" (PDF). Film.vic.gov.au. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
- ^ "Fortress (1993) - Financial Information". The-numbers.com. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
- ^ Fortress review, Stephen Holden, The New York Times, 4 September 1993
- ^ "10 Great Sci-fi Film Classics You Probably Haven't Seen". 23 November 2021.
- ^ Fortress review Archived 9 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Cold Fusion Video Reviews
- ^ "Review: Fortress". Preview.reelviews.net. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
External links
- Fortress at IMDb
- Fortress at Rotten Tomatoes
- Fortress at Box Office Mojo
- Fortress at AllMovie
- Fortress at Oz Movies