Fortress
Tags: insanity, cult, violence

Plot synopsis:
In a dystopic future society, married couples are allowed to become pregnant only once and are not permitted to become pregnant again even if the baby doesn't survive gestation or delivery. A faceless corporation called MenTel controls society, including its prisons. Couple John and Karen Brennick have had one failed pregnancy and are forbidden to have another, however she becomes pregnant again. In the film's opening scene, the couple are attempting to pass a security checkpoint while traveling to a safer region. Though they're careful to protect Karen's abdomen from detection, the guards become suspicious and try to stop them. They are captured and sentenced to a MenTel prison.John arrives at the penitentiary, a vast underground facility where treatment is harsh and punishments are brutal. He is ushered through the initial check-in where a small device is forcibly inserted down his throat: an "intestinator", which causes extreme abdominal pain when a punishment order is issued. The device can also be triggered to detonate in cases of extreme punishment, which John witnesses soon after he & the other prisoners are implanted; a prisoner, who becomes hysterical and crosses a safe-zone, is killed when his abdomen explodes.John is put into general population with some of the prison's worst inmates. In the cell that he shares with three men a hulking man, Stiggs, lords over the cell. John is forced to sleep on the floor. During his first night, he dreams of a sexual encounter with his wife and is interrupted by the prison's control system, ZED-10, which can enter the minds of inmates who have inappropriate thoughts. The prison's director is a man named Poe, who oversees ZED's operations.John also runs afoul of another hulking inmate, Maddox. Maddox attacks John and the fight, which would normally be stopped by intestination, continues when Poe cancels the punishment order. The two men battle across the walkway that leads out of the cellblock. The walkway is retracted and John wins the upper hand, causing Maddox to fall off the walkway where he hangs on by one hand. John pulls the man up, saving his life, however, Poe orders a powerful weapon called the splattergun to target Maddox' intestinator: the man's abdomen is blown out and he falls to his death. John is immediately intestinated along with dozens of other prisoners. While John writhes in pain, he notices that Maddox' intestinator lies nearby, undamaged. As he's dragged away to isolation, he passes it to one of his cellmates, Abraham, who holds it for him.John is subjected to physical and mental torture in isolation -- he is encased in a pod that feeds him hallucinatory visions that bombard his senses. After spending several weeks there, he's returned to his cell but is catatonic and remains in that state for four months. His other cellmate, Abraham, who works as a housekeeper in Poe's office and living quarters, nurses John. When it seems hopeless to return John to his normal state, John returns, having been encouraged by the thought of his wife, who had gotten Poe drunk on champagne and had accessed ZED, entering John's dreams and breaking his catatonia. John becomes leader of the cell, bumping Stiggs down the ladder.While John was in isolation, D-Day had taken the opportunity to study the intestinator. He finds that they are magnetic; using Stiggs as a test subject, he uses the freed intestinator to pull the other one out of Stiggs. It causes Stiggs a great deal of pain and nausea but the men realize they can at least free themselves from ZED's & Poe's control. They also have Abraham steal a small crystal from Poe's office, part of a holographic projector which shows construction plans for future prison levels. John forms a plan to have the men escape out of one of the construction sites where they all work. While they study the plans, they crystal is dropped and damaged. Abraham, who'd been up for parole, takes responsibility and may lose his chance at release. He decides to join John and the others in the escape.Poe becomes attracted to John's wife Karen. He allows her to live in his apartment with her. One day she finds him in a reclining chair, hooked up by leads to ZED; Poe is a cyborg. Horrified, Karen rejects him. Abraham, who'd been listening to their conversation, tells John, who charges Abraham with freeing Karen when the escape is attempted.The next day when the men report for work, John and Stiggs start a fight to distract the guards at the construction site. While they do, D-Day places all the intestinators he'd extracted from his cellmates on a ventilation pipe. When Poe orders a mass intestination, the intestinators explode, blowing a hole in the duct. John and his crew run for the exit but are stopped by strike clones, prisoners who have been converted into cybernetic soldiers. Stiggs is killed by a clone when he tries to surrender. John and the men are able to overpower one and steal the gun it had built into it's arm. When the splattergun is sent to their level, it cannot track them and they ride it's carriage to the top level.In his offices, Poe secures the room and traps himself, Abraham and Karen inside. When Karen and Abraham try to kill Poe, he overpowers them and kills Abraham. John, D-Day and their cellmate, Nino arrive at Poe's quarters; Poe shows John that Karen has been taken to an operating room where Karen's baby will be removed from her abdomen by Cesarean section and she will not survive the procedure. John forces Poe to take him to Karen, however, Zed sends the splattergun and Poe is destroyed. Zed tells John and his crew that a unit of strike clones are being sent to their location. D-Day tells John to get him to a computer console and is able to successfully disrupt ZED with a computer virus -- moments later, D-Day is killed by a strike clone. The virus is enough to shut down the lights in the surgical lab and delay the doctors long enough for John to find Karen. John, Karen and Nino escape to the surface where they steal a MenTel truck and drive off, finally arriving in a forested area where Karen goes into labor in an abandoned barn.Suddenly the truck they stole, still controlled by ZED, tries to run them down. Nino is killed, however, John is able to destroy the truck with the weapon he'd stolen, setting it on fire with the flame thrower. The truck swerves into the barn where Karen had been in labor and explodes. John believes Karen and his child are dead until he hears the child wailing and sees Karen alive; she'd escaped the barn shortly before. John and Karen leave to start a new life with their newborn child.

Review: The central characters are John and Karen Brennick - a couple sent to the Fortress after she becomes pregnant with a second child, thus breaking a futuristic population control law.
The film really is never boring for a minute; if there isn't something directly going on in the movie then Gordon is using the time to build up the situation that the prisoners find themselves in.
The film features a good B-movie cast, with 'Highlander' Christopher Lambert taking the lead role.
Loryn Locklin isn't given much to do as the leading lady, but the rest of the support cast includes the likes of Lincoln Kilpatrick, Vernon Wells (who, coincidently, was also in the 1986 Australian movie of the same title!) and Jeffrey Combs, who is just great as always.
Now John and other prisoners (Clifton Collins Jr., Jeffery Combs, Lincoln Kilpartick & Tom Towles) tires to find other ways to escape the Fortress but John finds out that his pregnant wife is captured and is kept in Poe's working area.Directed by Stuart Gordon (Edmond, Re-Animator, Stuck) made an entertaining high concept low-budget Science Fiction adventure.
The producers originally wanted Arnold Schwarzenegger as the star, but he went on to do "True Lies" instead (it was Ah-nuld that suggested Gordon as the director of this feature).Some interesting ideas are present in this tale of a husband and wife, John and Karen (Christopher Lambert and Loryn Locklin) who are expecting their second child, despite the fact that the law now forbids couples from having more than one kid.
Kurtwood Smith played the bad guy in Robocop, and he plays bad guy in Fortress, too, but not as NEAR as bad as in Robocop's manic performance.Due to the film's violence and fierce moments, this is pretty close to Paul Verhoeven's style of making action films, as couple of scenes are very violent and almost too violent for this kind of mainstream production, and as far as I know, this had to be trimmed by two violent scenes to get the R rating in US, and this slightly cut version has been released also on DVD in US and Europe.
The violence in Fortress isn't funny in the tradition of Re-Animator; It is serious because the film itself is serious, not the kind of half comedy like Re-Animator.The film is perhaps little too slow moving in the middle part but for most of the time, this works fine and pleased me very much, and proves the talent of Gordon in other genres than horror, too.
Lambert stars as John Brennick he is an innocent prisoner in a futuristic high-tech prison trying to escape with his wife, there's lots of special effects and blood and guts in this fantastic film.
They are caught trying to cross the border and sent to a maximum security prison that is owned and run by the "MenTel Corporation" A place where dreams are not your own and all thoughts of escape are dealt with severely by futuristic methods unheard of in the civilised world.You got Connor MacLeod, Herbert West, Clarence J.
Tho nothing much as an actor, Lambert none the less gives the likes of Sly and Arnie a run for their money here and looks every inch and sinew an action hero.Kurtwood Smith, Jeffrey Combs, Lincoln Kilpatrick, Clifton Collins Jr. and of course,Loryn Locklin's bottom, all add varying degrees of fun and frolics to the occasion.
It's B movie berserker time folks, a dystopian world where Christopher Lambert can beat the crap out of blokes twice his size, where half humanoids have flame throwers for arms, and Kurtwood Smith is in charge of a prison.
The story is your standard prison movie formula, only it's set in the future.The best thing about this film is the suspense of the action sequences.
The main flaws would be the predictability of the plot and some cliché characters, but it's all handled so well that it doesn't really hurt the movie.It's a good popcorn action movie, and one of my favorite Stuart Gordon Films.
I like this movie because it not only has a great story line but also stars one of my favorite  actors (Christopher Lambert).
And also unlike Boddicker, Poe's actually a fairly interesting character - though an aloof, even sadistic Warden, we do see what little personal life he has, and are continually reminded in his scenes that he's still a person - he has tastes, even loves, and by the end of the film it's not even clear whether he's the real bad guy.
This movie was very well put together from the underground prison facility to the artificial intelligence from which it operates, not to mention the twisted prison director who basks in his authority, hell it makes you feel as if you are in the shoes of the main character actor Christopher Lambert(a legend in my eyes).
The action and sci-fi parts of the film are reasonably entertaining, and pretty good for a B-movie.
(Still Waters) and Lincoln Kilpatrick (Bulletproof).Lets get on with the plot: Set in a dystopian future the year 2017, in the USA, an ex-US Army officer John Henry Brennick (Christopher Lambert) and his wife Karen S.
However, the prison is also overcrowded.John is put in a cell with three other convicts — Abraham, who is awaiting parole; D-Day, a machine and demolitions expert who was turned in by his criminal partners after he destroyed both a bank's safe and its money; Nino Gomez; and Stiggs, a particularly tough inmate who initially tries to extort John, and has a tough friend called Maddox, who is killed in the beginning of the movie.Brennick also learns his wife has been captured as well and is being held in a separate level of the prison with his unborn child who, being illegal, is now officially owned by the MenTel Corporation and will be confiscated on its birth.Poe, having become infatuated with Karen, summons her to his quarters telling her that if she lives with him there he will treat John well.
Again, both the film and book is worthwhile.Anyway, so, a man (Christopher Lambert, perfect genre everyman) has to escape from a prison to save his wife with the help of the likes of Jeffrey Combs (taking a break from trying to bring things to life) against the evil Kurtwood Smith (of course!).
The danger with making films of this nature is not that it envisions a brave new world which those of good conscience should work to avoid but that it might inspire those personalities like that of Prison Director Poe (Kurtwood Smith) to the means and methods of more effective repression.Do works in the bleak Orwellian futuristic 1984 genre warn or provide a model for action?
Fortress is the second time director Stuart Gordon tip his toes into the action genre and compared this one to his giant robot movie Robot JoxI I must say I prefer Fortress more when on the surface it look like one of your typical " Escape from something" type of movie but beneath that simple premise the movie freaked the hell out of me with it unsettling sub plot about population control.
Christopher Lambert is not an idea lead man to be the lead role in action movie but this time he done a good job to convince me as he pull out some quite decent action scene and one of his companion named D-Day played by Jeffrey Combs also very fun to watch.
Fortress (1992) is one of my most watched action films from my younger days back on video & it was always such an exciting movie with the excellent underrated Christopher Lambert as the hero & he has never been better than here in Fortress his performance is excellent!!!
Anyway Fortress is not a "guilty Pleasure" as it's a brilliant movie & so well made with depth & emotion & has a great score & some fantastic action scenes with brutality & gritty violence with that gorgeous 90's look/Cinematography it's lovely to watch & a childhood classic of mine.
Christopher Lambert is the best he's been ever in a movie here in Fortress but that's my personal opinion & this movie is truly an exciting entertaining dark sci-fi action Thriller that is an easy 10/10 for me!!!
Kurtwood Smith is the main villain of the movie and he did a pretty decent job with restraining himself to not go over-the-top with his character, like probably a lot of other actors would had done.
The movie also has some other decent actors in it, that fits their roles fine, such as for instance Jeffrey Combs, Lincoln Kilpatrick and Vernon Wells.The story and its storytelling are at times really quite messy and bad but when you can look all past that, "Fortress" is still some good mindless fun for you.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
Stuart Gordan the master of really (and I mean REALLY) cheezy literature based horror movies (Re-Animater, Pit and the Pendulem, Castle Freak, From Beyond etc.) brings us FORTRESS, a Christopher Lambert, Sci-Fi classic.
That way when guys like me go to the video store and we're not in the mood for some hollywood bullsh*t, and we've rented every horror movie on the shelves a hundred times, and there hasn't been a new Bruce Campbell "straight to video" classic released in ages, we can pick up one (or all) of the seven Christopher Lambert videos that have come out that week and know that our weekend is not going to be a complete waste!.
"Re-Animator" had a very nice and catchy ending so I thought Gordon would have another surprise like that waiting here, but sadly there is none.But that aside, this is an enjoyable film and seeing those early 90s computer effects at work is always fun, especially since the ones here never try to outrun themselves.
In the future having more than one baby is illegal, Christopher Lambert and his trophy wife Loryn Locklin has broken this law, so they are sent to a futuristic prison where sadistic Kurtwood Smith runs things with excruciating fury of the worst degree.
Christopher Lambert has always been hit and miss, he made the excellent Highlander, made forgettable comedies and then made the dungheap sequel everyone knows about (The Quickening, for those fortunate not to have seen it) however Fortress represents one of Lambert's best works, which is good in that it's consistently watchable and interesting through out but bad because it isn't fantastic and which speaks how good Lambert's movies in general were.
A Stuart Gordon Sci-Fi action movie about a private underground supermax prison in the future year of 2017.It is scary that I felt like there are things in this that I felt could have very much come about in that year.
Private prisons, population control, cops killing civilians, half-human half-machine prison wardens made from the non-aborted babies of the prisoners...well one of those things may be a stretch.Plot-wise, after being caught at the Canadian border trying to escape America with his wife who is pregnant with their second child.
Kurtwood Smith is great as Warden Poe and Lambert plays his typical combat hardened ex-military agent he has portrayed in the likes of Mean Guns.Good supporting characters and few plot holes round the movie out.
Film has usual prison themes - the hero a victim of injustice (in this case imprisoned for trying to father a second child which is outlawed by the State), a brutal Governor, homosexual threats from butch inmates, old guy who is full of philosophical monologues, etc, etc.Some sci-fi themes are thrown in - prisoners have an internal tag called an 'Intestinator' which can give pain or even kill as commanded by a female talking computer (allowing some Alien-like stomach exploding of a very third rate); things are controlled by a faceless all-powerful Corporation (like Rollerball, Blade Runner, etc).
Despite the 'Highlander' series, I'm not convinced that Christopher Lambert has any of the ingredients to be an action hero and I find him bland and dreary.The sci-fi films from the 50's & 60's still stomp all over lame efforts like this..
They're both nabbed trying to make a break for Mexico, locked away in a horrific prison called Fortress, a place where science has run amok and all kinds of neurological and biological experiments are performed on the inmates under the steely direction of evil Director Poe (Kurtwood Smith).
Vernon Wells sticks his head in as another prisoner, but aside from that, one will be hard-pressed to recall any of the other cast members' names.Truth be told, I am having the hardest time recalling anything about this film, save for one classic scene in which Christopher Lambert is about to mount some woman who may or may not be his character's love interest here.
The irony of people trying to get to Mexico to start a better life is about the smartest element of the entire movie.They're caught, and sent to prison in the Fortress, a huge underground complex where inmates are fitted with "intestinators," small devices forced into the gastrointestinal system which create pain as a method of discipline, and serve as targeting beacons for the sentry guns of the complex.Naturally, Brennick wants out.
Not a groundbreaking or overly innovating movie in anyway, but still it is good entertainment.The story in "Fortress" is about John Brennick (played by Christopher Lambert) and Karen Brennick (played by Loryn Locklin) who are sent to an underground high security prison for having an illegal pregnancy.
But John Brennick wants to get to his wife and break out of the Fortress prison at all costs.The reason for why I watched this movie even back in 1992 or 1993 is because of Jeffrey Combs (playing D-Day in this movie), as I am a big fan of him and his movies.
Christopher Lambert and Kurtwood Smith star in this hi-tech sci-fi prison film- where the prison is located underground, and you get these intestinal implants that ensure you never escape.
There's something very comforting for me about watching Christopher Lambert in the nineties sci-fi/action movie 'Fortress.' It's like revisiting an old friend in a comfortable environment.
The titular 'Fortress' is a prison (tower) buried under the ground in the desert where escape is 'impossible' (yeah, in the same way that 'no one' had ever won 'The Running Man' until Arnie had a go).Once imprisoned, Lambert is subjected to all the usual prison movie tropes, including clichéd cellmates, aggressive bully-type alpha-male prisoners and – of course – the fascist warden in charge, this time played by Kurtwood Smith (or that-baddie-in-Robocop to most of us).
In this movie we observe how a family with an illegal baby tries to pass the population control and it shows how they feel, what are their emotions and all of that staff.I liked this movie because of the plot and the story of it and because of the interpretation of Christopher Lambert who plays as John Henry Brennick and he did a great job.
Imagine a version of those classic prison movies - PAPILLON, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION - updated violently into a futuristic setting and what you'll have is FORTRESS, a gung-ho ride full to the brim of action.
Despite the associated delays and bad press, the film was completed, much to the delight of sci-fi aficionados.Christophe Lambert portrays an ex-marine John Brennick who's wife Karen (played ably by Loryn Locklin) is expecting her second child.
I watched it and loved it, it may be a low-budget film but it was great.Lambert does a great performance as John Brennick a man sent to the Fortress because he wanted another kid with his wife Karen.
The law in the future says you can have only one child and that's it.Kurtwood Smith does an equally great performance as the warden Poe, who gets pleasure out of watching the inmates sexual dreams but dreams are not allowed in the Fortress.
Each prisoner is implanted with a device that shocks them if they break the rules and also kill them if they misbehave too much.Jeffery Combs is good as D-Day a computer genius, his performance in Re-Animator was great too.Fortress is a great sci-fi film that wont disappoint.
Fortress is set in the near future where America has become a Government controlled country, it is illegal for a couple to have more than one baby & because of this former Black Beret Captain John Henry Brennick (Christopher Lambert) & his wife Karen (Loryn Locklin) are trying to escape over the border to Mexico.
Despite a relatively poor & underdeveloped script at least it moves along at a decent pace, there are a few entertaining action set-pieces & it doesn't last for too long either but I had hoped for something a little better & slightly more substantial.When he made Fortress director Gordon had some good genre efforts behind him like the excellent Re-Animator (1985), From Beyond (1986), Dolls (1987) & The Pit and the Pendulum (1991) so it's maybe a little disappointing to see him turn his hand to such a generic & surprisingly thoughtless sci-fi film.
The cast are strangely off colour too, Lambert doesn't make much impression as the hero, the always watchable Jeffrey Combs is wasted while Kurtwood Smith was probably cast because of his superb performance in Robocop (1987) but doesn't really seem that interested or intense as the villain.Fortress was the most widely distributed film Gordon ever had & it's a shame it's a bit of a let down, it's not a complete disaster as it's an alright watch but it's fairly moronic stuff most of the time & doesn't feature any of the biting satire or commentary most great sci-fi have like Robocop or Starship Troopers (1997) to name but two..
Brennick has to come up with a plan to escape the prison and save his wife, while contending with the evil Prison Director Poe (Kurtwood Smith) and his AI sidekick Zed-10 (voice of Carolyn Purdy-Gordon).Fortress is a pretty silly film, but as with most things starring Christopher Lambert, enjoyably silly.