FORTRESS 2. The Last Days of Christopher Lambert in Science Fiction

The title is, of course, a metaphor, and Christopher Lambert is still alive. However, I was looking through his acting portfolio for some cinematic farewell to those legendary roles in his career. I found “Fortress 2,” which is a sequel to a once well-known title. I’m sure it has its fans, but I will never count myself among them, even though I rate this production around 5 out of 10. Partly due to sentiment for Lambert, and partly because of its style. Geoff Murphy’s work is from the year 2000 and aesthetically stands in a crossroads. It’s clearly the ’90s, and some scenes even resemble the ’80s. It’s still available online, so I can only do one thing – recommend this title to everyone who wants to return to the old vision of underfunded science fiction cinema. You can laugh, get emotional, root for the characters, admire real explosions, cringe at the sight of plastic renders of spaceships, but in some strange way, you want to see the finale.

Director Geoff Murphy has films like “The Quiet Earth,” “Young Guns II,” and “Freejack” to his credit. I won’t mention “Under Siege 2” because it’s rather kitschy, like everything with Steven Seagal, but within the sci-fi genre, Murphy was able to say something timeless. And viewers still remember it to this day, often not even knowing the director’s name. So, even in the 21st century, Murphy could have put the final touch on it, but he failed. Mainly due to money, or rather the lack of it. “Fortress 2” is an attempt to continue the story from the first part, but it lacks a well-written script and screen time. Viewers don’t have to wait long for developments. John Brennick (Christopher Lambert), hiding from the omnipresent corporation ruling the world, is immediately captured again and placed in prison, but this time a much more advanced one than the one in “Fortress 1.” This time the prison is in space. By the way, I’m curious if both Fortresses were an inspiration for the “Escape Plan” series?

So, after Brennick is placed in the space prison, where it’s really cramped, co-ed, and the behavior of prisoners is controlled by neural implants, the escape plan begins. Brennick uses all sorts of inventive methods to find the weakest points of the prison. He does this along with a group of friends, including the beautiful Elena (Liz May Brice), who is undoubtedly the film’s attraction – I should immediately mention, very sexistly exploited. In the film, prisoners bathe together, and to prevent mass rapes of female prisoners, artificial intelligence precisely controls all the inmates’ reactions. Physical contact is forbidden. Theoretically, it’s an interesting and effective way to keep peace in the prison, but the problem is that the head of the facility is a very vile person, executing his most criminal orders, including against Brennick, through the head guard. A certain scheme from prison films is therefore preserved and is still used today. I agree that it still works. In “Fortress 2,” the problem is that it’s a bit too fast, the acting is poor, and the constantly buzzing music based on electronic trumpets and strings is ear-piercing. Who knows, maybe it would have been a good idea to remove the music altogether. The space sequences, surprisingly numerous for such a low-budget film ($11 million), would probably benefit from silence. But the best part is gliding in space without a suit.

In “Fortress 2,” this is really possible. Only a little blood pours from the nose and ears, but apart from that, one can survive in space for several, or maybe more, seconds without serious injuries. Neither pressure nor temperature matters. Brennick, as a superhero, can handle such danger. But seriously, Christopher Lambert flying in space thus reached the limits of his acting and closed the chapter on his cult roles, as it turned out, forever. I still have some hope tied to the newest “Highlander.” If only the creators planned his appearance alongside Henry Cavill, I have no idea on what basis and with what justification. I’m just speculating. You must admit it would be nice, and Lambert would return to his greatest cult role, if only for a moment.

Such a thing will probably never happen. So, we are left to watch “Fortress” and its sequel and judge for ourselves whether the role of Brennick can be counted among Lambert’s good ones, or just cashing in on the sentimental fame of the ’80s when Lambert played Tarzan and Connor MacLeod. An idea that’s somewhat audacious for Lambert’s career came to me. He is 67 years old. He is still professionally active. Nothing stands in the way of him returning to the role of Brennick and redeeming the somewhat wasted legend from the sequel. So, what if they made “Fortress 3?” We currently live in times of remakes and sequels, and in the Fortresses, we didn’t learn much about the earthly world governed by the Mental corporation. It would be worthwhile to open the cinematic reality, going beyond one prison or another, and Lambert, now an old anti-system veteran, would once again face his enemies, not in the form of people, but the system, the artificial intelligence that rules within the corporation’s structures, and its leaders are not even aware of it. And with such a planned future for Brennick, I can therefore wholeheartedly recommend the sci-fi comedy “Fortress 2” – a surreal film because I can’t describe it otherwise if I want to maintain my sentimental rating of 5/10.