Lock Up

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Lock Up

R,

1989,

1h 43m,

Action

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Watchlist

31%

16 Reviews

Tomatometer

50%

10,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

31%

Tomatometer

16 Reviews

50%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Sadistic prison warden Drumgoole (Donald Sutherland) is bent on taking his revenge against Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone), the only prisoner to have escaped from his institution. He drags the inmate back to his maximum security hellhole and proceeds to have his guards torture him mercilessly. In addition to the warden, Frank tangles with fellow prisoner Chink Weber (Sonny Landham). When Frank learns that Drumgoole plans to kill his girlfriend on the outside, he plots his escape once more.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Nov 9, 2025

1.5/4

The summer of 1989 was the summer of Batman, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Lethal Weapon 2, and several other sizable hits, so who in their right mind wanted to waste time and money on a generic Stallone prison flick?

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

Mar 12, 2023

3/5

…John Flynn’s film is representative of the quirks of Stallone’s remarkably personal oeuvre…

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Nov 3, 2022

3/4

Lock Up benefits from a midsection and second half that’s been peppered with several memorable interludes and standout sequences...

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Jul 12, 2022

One of the most brutal and violent of films, which leaves a bad memory. [Full review in Spanish]

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Andrew Gaudion

VultureHound

Aug 28, 2020

3/5

Lock Up maybe a little too cliched and heavy-handed to mark itself as a classic of the prison drama sub-genre, but as a piece of 80's action drama, it has its pleasures.

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Kevin Carr

7M Pictures

Aug 15, 2012

2/5

has more in common with the litany of weak films from the 90s than with his powerful flicks

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Feb 5, 2019

Good story and suspense

Hagrid W

Sep 11, 2018

My roommate and I were on a Stallone kick recently, but we never got around to watching Lock Up because we were looking for some hard (see: over-the-top) action, and this sounded more like a wistful drama. Eventually though, Lock Up came due, and I... actually kind of loved it? It's about as cheesy I had feared, but I what never occurred to me is that that cheese would totally work. I mean, it's not exactly Shawshank we're working with here, but if I were putting together a list of all the good prison movies ever made, Lock Up would be on it.

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Hagrid R

Dec 26, 2017

File under so bad it's actually good... This is the MOST 80s of 80s movies... incredibly preposterous with the 80s cheese and cheesy 80s soundtrack. A must for the Rocky style football match with the cons!! Hilarious!!

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Abraham L

Dec 10, 2017

Gotta say, I love this movie. It isnt oscar worthy or life changing, but for what it was trying to do, it worked. Strong characters, very simple and fun plot, and lets not forget about the soundtrack! I'm not too sure where all the bad reviews are coming from, this film is a very enjoyable watch with many touching moments, and one of Stallones best.

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Poe R

Nov 25, 2017

This is a bad, boring Stallone action movie. What action's in it is forgettable. The plot and acting are even worse.

Ron G

Apr 4, 2017

Dans la grande tradition des films avec Sylvester Stallone hors Rocky/Rambo, Lock Up est une ode à la camaraderie masculine contre l'autorité (in)compétente et repressive. Cependant, Lock Up le fait sans aucune finesse et se contente d'être un bête film de prison, avec tout ce que ça comporte comme passages obligés, sans aucun intérêt hormis quelques séquences avec un très solide supporting cast (Donald Sutherland, Tom Sizemore & Frank McRae sont très bons). Lock Up se relève un peu dans son dernier acte, très réussi, mais force est de constater qu'il y avait bien mieux à faire avec ce point de départ. Stallone le prouva en 2013 avec Evasion.

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John Flynn

Director

Sylvester Stallone

Frank Leone

Donald Sutherland

Warden Drumgoole

John Amos

Captain Meissner

Sonny Landham

Chink Weber

Tom Sizemore

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Synopsis

Sadistic prison warden Drumgoole (Donald Sutherland) is bent on taking his revenge against Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone), the only prisoner to have escaped from his institution. He drags the inmate back to his maximum security hellhole and proceeds to have his guards torture him mercilessly. In addition to the warden, Frank tangles with fellow prisoner Chink Weber (Sonny Landham). When Frank learns that Drumgoole plans to kill his girlfriend on the outside, he plots his escape once more.

Director: John Flynn
Producer: Lawrence Gordon, Charles Gordon
Screenwriter: Richard Smith, Jeb Stuart, Henry Rosenbaum
Production Co: Gordon Company, Carolco Pictures Inc.
Rating: R
Genre: Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 26, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $20.3M
Runtime: 1h 43m
Sound Mix: Surround

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