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Fortress 2: Re-entry

Fortress 2: Re-entry

List Price: $9.95
Your Price: $9.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Doesn't add up to the original...
Review: Our story picks up about ten years where the original ended. Brannick is caught and put in a new prison, this time in space orbiting Earth. The characters are plenty fun and the humor is well-placed, but the acting and overall script leave much to be desired. The film is very watchable, but little comes from it. Christopher Lambert is not a good enough actor to make his character as interesting as he was in the first film, but his supporting cast is not all bad. Mostly, I liked the computer effects and some of the action was neat. The star rating can be ignored here. I really give it 2 1/2, but Amazon.com won't let me do halves.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It needs a lot more work
Review: Ten year after the events of the Fortresss, Lambert is back in this mediocre sequel to a classic. Christopher Lambert returns as Braddock, the father who had one to many kids. It takes place ten years later, the kid is healthy and the family are continuously on the run from Mentel. Eventualy Lambert gets caught and is put in the new Fortress, a space prison that is in space (that will hold them). With some scenes of violence, nudity, and language this is your typical Sci-Fi borefest.

So if the movie is so bad why give it 3 stars? The acting was fairly decent and I liked the setting. Also the story was pretty good, it's just that the acting needed some seriouse work, and laser effects looked like they were done in the late 70's early 80's, not 1998.

It's recommended that you check into this so you can see the conclusion of the story. However it's not entirly neccessary because you can easily just be happy with how the first one ended.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It needs a lot more work
Review: Ten year after the events of the Fortresss, Lambert is back in this mediocre sequel to a classic. Christopher Lambert returns as Braddock, the father who had one to many kids. It takes place ten years later, the kid is healthy and the family are continuously on the run from Mentel. Eventualy Lambert gets caught and is put in the new Fortress, a space prison that is in space (that will hold them). With some scenes of violence, nudity, and language this is your typical Sci-Fi borefest.

So if the movie is so bad why give it 3 stars? The acting was fairly decent and I liked the setting. Also the story was pretty good, it's just that the acting needed some seriouse work, and laser effects looked like they were done in the late 70's early 80's, not 1998.

It's recommended that you check into this so you can see the conclusion of the story. However it's not entirly neccessary because you can easily just be happy with how the first one ended.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Very bad sequel
Review: The first Fortress is quite good. It was directed by Stuart Gordon (of Re-animator). The sequel Fortress II Re-entry is directed by Geoff Murphy (who directed two very good sequels: Young Guns 2 and Under Siege 2) so I say to myself, it can't be that bad. Well, I was wrong. This is an awful movie. The action scenes are not realistic and plain boring. The plot, what plot? Not worth mentioning. It is a complete waste of time. Luckily, The DVD picture quality is good and the dolby 5.1 is not bad as well. But again not worth getting it not even a rental. Skip this turkey.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Oh the humanity!
Review: The only word you need to know relating to the atrocity that is "Fortress 2: Re-entry" is, quite simply, LAMBERT! That's right, master thespian and international film god Christopher Lambert returns to reprise his role as the persecuted John Brennick, the bane of the powerfully evil Men-Tel corporation. The first film in the series, which arrived on the scene some six years before its sequel, was an enjoyable action/drama film larded with good characters, occasionally intriguing special effects, and lots of shoot 'em up action. The first film was even directed by Stuart Gordon ("Re-Animator," "From Beyond") and employed solid character actors like Jeffrey Combs and Kurtwood Smith to good effect. It got so you didn't even mind Christopher Lambert starred in the movie since the secondary elements made up for his lack of talent. You would think at least a little charm from the original might rub off on its sequel. You would be wrong. "Fortress 2" is a disaster across the board: bad acting, lousy script, slow pacing, and a forgettable supporting cast destroys any chance this movie had at success. "Fortress 2" is to the world of cinema what Linda McCartney was to Wings.

Once again John Brennick and his wife are on the run from the Men-Tel Corporation. At the end of the first movie the couple escaped the clutches of the evil plutocrats and went underground in order to defy the ban on having children. The opening of "Fortress 2" shows the Brennicks safely ensconced in a cabin somewhere far from the overpopulated urban centers run by Men-Tel. A group of rebels from the resistance pay a visit to Brennick so they can convince him to rejoin their efforts to destroy the corporation. Predicatably, Men-Tel thugs clandestinely follow these upstarts out to the cabin and launch a raid. Lots of bullets fly, Brennick and family escape through a tunnel under the house, and Johnny blows a helicopter out of the sky before the soldiers finally capture him. Brennick's spouse and young son escape, so there will be no wife in prison to compromise John's attention this time around. And prison is exactly where he is going, but this time the penitentiary is a floating space station revolving around the earth. It would seem that walking out of this situation will not be as easy as it was last time. C'mon, you know better! This is big, bad John Brennick we are talking about here. Of course he will escape. Our job is to play like good little sheep, shut our mouths, and watch how he does it.

The space prison is pretty much like the institution encountered in the first film with a few minor exceptions. First, the beloved intestinators from the first film are long gone, replaced with a different implant device that causes everyone to fall on the ground and roll around shrieking in pain whenever the guards punch a button. Second, one of Brennick's cellmates is a sexy young woman who takes lots of showers to distract the bulls whenever John and his allies are plotting something. Third, this is a dumb movie. There is a bunch of nonsense about Men-Tel building some huge project and using the prisoners as slave labor, but it is largely uninteresting most of the time. Pam Grier turns up in the role as the head of Men-Tel, perhaps the most egregious crime the film commits because she doesn't have much to do except threaten the prison warden via video screen and show up briefly in the end. Another wasted opportunity arrives in the shape of Yuji Okumoto as the sadistic guard Sato. Viewers will recognize this veteran character actor and loudly lament the inability of the script to put him to better use. By the way, did I mention this movie reeks?

I actually followed the movie for a bit before issuing an increasingly loud series of raspberries at the stupidity unfolding onscreen. A few things were slightly interesting, such as Brennick's turn in "solitary" after a failed escape attempt. The punishment differs slightly from a similar penalty on earth: guards lock Brennick in a transparent bubble on the outer shell of the station, thereby exposing him to extremes of cold and heat as the prison revolves around the earth. Alas, this scene is the only good point in an otherwise useless production. One need only watch one of the characters attach a miniature video camera to a roach to understand the ridiculous depths to which this movie sinks. The absolute worst, and I mean WORST, situation occurs when Brennick, in an effort to reach another part of the rapidly deteriorating space station, holds his breath and flies through space without any sort of protective gear. You heard me right. A man soars through deep space wearing nothing but the clothes on his back--with only a bloody nose to show for it--and survives to fight another day. This scene alone guarantees a one star review. How dare the screenwriters, the director, and the producer attempt to foist off such an idiotic scenario on viewers.

Brennick escapes in time for the inevitable reunion with his loved ones (in front of a picturesque sunset, no less), but the viewer has nowhere to go after watching this piece of crud except perhaps to the local pharmacy to pick up a bottle of Thorazine. Whatever your poison, pray it is strong enough to burn the memory of this film out of your head. The DVD is fortunately sparse, with a trailer for this film, one for a movie called "Resurrection," and a widescreen presentation of the movie. The lack of a commentary surprises me not at all; I wouldn't want to take any responsibility for such a worthless project either if I was associated with it. Good luck with this one, faithful viewers.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Re-Entry is Pure Re-Hash (Somewhat Good Re-Hash)
Review: This is one of those sci-fi sequel films where the concept was great along with some of the actors, yet leaves you with a bland feeling. The special effects and futuristic weaponry, gadgets and contraptions (brain pain/optic security camera implanted in the prisoners' bodies)are some of the better ones around for a sci-fi b-movie like this. As for Lambert, he's one of those actors where he's always teetering between mediocre acting ability and bonafide dramatic acting ability. It is a sequel where Lambert's character and family are runaway fugitives from a ruthless robotic prison system which he and several others destroyed in the last film.The underlying sub-plot for the sequel stems from the original where families are only allowed by law to have one child due to the devastating population growth.The main characters first child was a still born; they proceed to "illegally" procreate for another one and try to cross the Mexican border to guarantee that the child is born free and safe. The bit of tongue-and-cheek irony here is that in the future Americans are trying to escape the U.S. and cross the line into Mexico to get away from the oppression and police . Lambert's character and wife get caught by the police at the U.S./Mexican border and the rest is history seen in Fortress One. As for Re-Entry, if I explain the plot all will be given away;can't do that. It is a dvd worthy of a weekend rental when you're bored. Otherwise, Bladerunner or StarWars it is not...Viewers who have seen Fortress One take note of Fortress Two; the actress who plays Lambert's wife in Re-Entry somehow became more voluptuous and sexier (despite the fact she's been a fugitve on the run for ten years). Hmmm...

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Nothing like the original, a BIG disappointment!
Review: When I saw Fortress I was very impressed by it. Fortress was a very interesting story that showed us how several people escaped out of high-tech prison that even controled prisoners thoughts. Fortress 2: Re-Entry unlike the original has an atmosphere of a B-type sci-fi movie. In fact, fortress (or what supposed to be a high-tech prison) in this sequel had an atmosphere of some group home for mentally retarded. As for me it did not look like a high-tech prison at all.

There were many other things in the movie that made it totally unrealistic and unbelivable. For example a part when our main hero (played by Lambert) takes a deep breath and jumps in to the space to get from one part of the satellite to the other. That is nonsense, you cannot be in the outer space without a protective costume. (Can't they talk to someone who knows little about science) When I reached that particular part of the movie I lost all of the remaining respect that I had for it completely. This is nothing more than a cheap, boring, poorly thought out, sequel to a good movie.


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