Fortress (1993)

Director Stuart Gordon's contribution to the I've-seen-the-future-and-it-sucks genre, FORTRESS is a creative and rousing sci-fi adventure. It's 2018, and America is facing a terrible overpopulation crisis. To solve the problem, a strict limit has been set on the number of children a family can have: one. When John Brennick (Christopher Lambert) and his wife, Karen (Loryn Locklin), lose their infant son, they try to have another illegally. However, they're caught and sent off to the Fortress, a supermaximum security prison from which escape is impossible. Despite the robot guards, the laser beams, the mindscanners, and the death devices planted in all inmates' stomachs, Brennick plans an escape with his wife anyway. Lambert is excellent as Brennick, the only reasonable man in an unreasonable world. Locklin is good as Karen, his wife and equal in strength of mind and will. Kurtwood Smith is gleefully evil as the sadistic prison director who is as emotionless as the machines that control him. Gordon imparts his graphic and detailed visual style to the film, as well as his usual strengths of strong character development and solid storytelling. FORTRESS is a great sci-fi escape movie that recalls THE RUNNING MAN and other prison-break films.