Every couple of days we like to spotlight a film on Netflix that might’ve flown under most people’s radar upon its initial theatrical release, or just been under-appreciated at the time, but is now finding itself with newfound popularity.
It’s a surprisingly frequent trend as well, especially in this time of global lockdown. Indeed, it seems several times a week Netflix updates their Top 10 lists only to have a totally surprising/random movie wind up in a rather high spot. Or, in some cases, the surprise is seeing that film on the list at all. I mean, remember when 2010’s The Last Airbender, widely considered to be one of the worst movies ever made, ended up on the list of Netflix’s Top 10 Movies, and stayed there for several days?
Yes, it’s always fascinating to see what people are watching and today, Lockout has found itself creeping onto the aforementioned list, with the pic currently holding the distinction of being the 7th most popular film on Netflix as of this writing.
Released back in 2012, the underrated sci-fi thriller stars Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace and centers on a man who finds himself wrongly convicted of “conspiracy to commit espionage against the United States.” The only way he can gain back his freedom is to rescue the daughter of the President, who’s trapped in an outer space prison that’s been overrun by its inmates.
While not exactly the most accomplished thriller, and though it borrows a bit too much from its peers, Lockout certainly has its moments and features a decent lead performance from Pearce, who helps keep things afloat even when the script is lacking. It’s also got a couple of solid action scenes and overall, isn’t a bad way to kill a few hours.
Is it the best movie you can find in this particular genre when it comes to Netflix‘s library? Absolutely not. But you could certainly do worse and with the film already cracking the Top 10 Movies list on the platform, there’s got to be something about it that people are digging, right?