Fortress (1993 film)

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Fortress
Directed by Stuart Gordon
Produced by John Davis
John Flock
Written by Troy Neighbors
Steven Feinberg
Starring Christopher Lambert,
Kurtwood Smith,
Loryn Locklin
Jeffrey Combs
Vernon Wells
Clifton Collins, Jr.
Music by Frédéric Talgorn
Cinematography David Eggby
Distributed by Dimension Films
Release date(s) September 3, 1993 (USA)
Running time 91 min.
Language English
Budget $12,000,000 (estimated)
Followed by Fortress 2
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Fortress is a 1993 film directed by Stuart Gordon. The story takes place in a dystopian future. The main character in the movie, John Henry Brennick (Christopher Lambert) and his wife Karen B. Brennick (Loryn Locklin) are sent to a maximum security prison because they are expecting a second child, which is against strict one-child policies.

Contents

[edit] Cast

[edit] Plot

Set in a dystopian future the year 2017, in the USA, the US Army officer John Henry Brennick (Christopher Lambert) and his wife (and possibly US army officer also) Karen S. Brennick (Loryn Locklin) are expecting a second child. Strict one-child policies forbid a second pregnancy, but the couple attempts it anyway because their first child unfortunately died at child-birth.

They are caught and sent to a maximum security prison that is owned and run by a company, rather than the government, called the “MenTel Corporation.”

John Brennick has to deal with an unreasonable environment; he is not allowed to dream in his sleep, and is tortured by a sadistic Prison Director (Kurtwood Smith). His unborn child is now officially owned by the MenTel Corporation (the company seems to use these children to create cyborgs).

Fortunately, Prison Director Poe has an eye on John Brennick’s wife, Karen. John befriends a Computer Geek, D-Day (Jeffrey Combs) who find a way to remove the special “intestinator” chips that are implanted in each prisoner’s intestines, and can cause great pain and even explode when set off by the security system. He also manages to convince his fellow prisoner Abraham (Lincoln Kilpatrick) that Poe will never allow his parole, and is only using it as a carrot on a stick.

This opens an opportunity to escape.

After uploading a virus on the AI computer warden Zed-10 (voice by Carolyn Purdy-Gordon) the group manages to escape.

John Brennick and his wife flee to Mexico, where they have the baby (Annika Thomas).

[edit] Original Ending

The original ending of Fortress has been cut from some versions of the film.

After taking one of the Men-Tel trucks to escape into Mexico, Brennick, his wife and Gomez end up near a barn where Brennick's wife starts going into labour. Brennick and Gomez go out for supplies and while they are away, the Fortress (or similar) computer manages to establish a remote linkup with the truck by that time, overriding its internal controls — and the truck suddenly comes to life all on its own. When Brennick and Gomez return, the truck runs Gomez over and kills him, it then crashes into the barn, while a distraught Brennick watches. He climbs into the burning ruins and finds his wife — sitting against an old and rusted tractor, clutching her blanketed baby.

[edit] Trivia

 This section does not cite any references or sources. (February 2008)
Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

The movie was shot at Warner Brothers Movie World in Queensland, Australia.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links