Bullet Points: Lockdown (2022)
COVID-19 has changed the world and the entertainment industry was certainly not immune to the effects of the global pandemic. The virus prompted some major studios to release their tentpole projects on their related streaming services and caused multiple delays in both production and release dates for a number of movies (wasn’t there supposed to be a Top Gun sequel?). Now COVID-19 is starting to become a theme in various forms of entertainment, including the latest from Uncork’d Entertainment, Lockdown aka COVID-19: Invasion…
- Future Hunters: The year is 2035. The world’s population has dwindled to 29 million people thanks to the pandemic that would not go away. Rex (Kevin Nash, The Punisher) is the head of a militia that is looking to be the cure to the COVID-19 disease. Rex believes that the homeless are to blame for the continuing spread and he has a plan to start eradicating them. I am not sure how Rex came to this conclusion but I am sure he posted about it on Facebook. Not everyone in the militia is on board with this plan, but Rex’s son Justin (Swayde McCoy) is all about it as he volunteers to head up the mission to exterminate all the homeless that stay at an abandoned high school in town… but Rex doesn’t think his son is ready for it and instead orders Justin to check in with Hap Rollins, a local man with a military background that would be perfect to lead the mission.
- What’s the Haps: Justin goes to Hap (David Ford) and tells him what the plan is… Hap turns him down flat. Hap wants no part in killing people even if they are people nobody cares about as Justin tried to sell it to him. Justin is pissed and warns Hap if he tells anybody else about this plan or gets in the way, the militia will come for Hap and his wife! Now Hap has a real problem, and it is something that haunts him as he tries to sleep that night. Hap’s estranged sister Courtney, who found herself homeless after she took the dark path of drugs, is staying at the school and Hap knows it… so he springs out of bed and heads for the school before the militia gets there… and it almost works.
- Family Reunion: After a physical encounter with one of the other residents of the school Hap finds Courtney… but by the time the siblings are done arguing and Hap convinces her to come with him, it is too late. Justin and the Militia have arrived and the school is officially on lockdown as they go room to room and kill homeless people and now it becomes all about survival for Hap and Courtney… on the surface that sounds like it could make for an entertaining movie but unfortunately the movie never builds any momentum. There will be a down and dirty action sequence (nobody will accuse the action scenes in this movie for being Jason Bourne like) and then a bunch of sibling drama or the backstory on Justin and why he has been pushed to the limits he has will bring all that to a screeching halt… I understand that those non-action elements were essential to the story being told but the way the movie was put together and paced, made for a rough watch.
The one highlight for me was Kevin Nash, who despite being prominently featured on the poster (especially the COVID-19: Invasion version), does not have a ton of screen time. Not sure if it was due to my familiarity with Nash’s work in the movies and in the wrestling ring or his screen presence (probably a combination of both), but Nash stole the show for me… although in this case some would classify that as petty theft.
Will these Bonus Bullet Points be a highlight of this review? There’s only one way to find out…
- Super Santa: I hope there is a producer out there who sees the Jolly Saint Nick look that Kevin Nash is sporting in Lockdown and sign Nash up for a Christmas related movie with a nod to his first acting gig in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Secret of the Ooze.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see a security camera used as a weapon, then Lockdown is the movie for you.
- The Supply Chain: It is established early on in the film that there is a food shortage as Hap and his wife find themselves eating kidney beans for breakfast once again. However there is no shortage of dad jokes for example, what do you call a fake noodle? …an IMPASTA. Get it?
- Coming Soon: Lockdown will be available on VOD and DVD on Tuesday February, 1st, 2022.
