Christopher Lambert returns as Brennick and is once again sent to a space prison and once again devises a plan to escape from the aforementioned hi-ech space prison. However, this time you're minus a strong director (Stuart Gordon "Re-Animator" "From Beyond") and a strong supporting cast (Jeffrey Combs "The Frighteners" "Deep Space Nine," Kurtwood Smith "Robocp" "That 70's Show," Vernon Wells "The Road Warrior" "Commando," or Tom Towles "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" "The Devil's Rejects"). With this sequel, you have none of the returning cast outside of Lambert, who isn't the best actor but who does have an undeniable on-screen charism and is the sole reason to watch this film. You also have Geoff Murphy as director, who's made a few decent films, such as "Young Guns II," "Utu," and "The Quiet Earth" but who's also made his share of stinkers (i.e. "Freejack" "Under Siege 2" "Dante's Peak"). One reason the first film is better is because that film was originally developed as a vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger during his heyday, falling between "Terminator 2" and "True Lies," who was a big fan of Gordon's "Re-Animator" after her stunt double (who appeared in "Re-Animator") and consequentially brought him on as director. Arnold dropped out and the budget went from $70 million to $15, but that original film was still a clever bit of musclebound sci-fi. This sequel, filmed 8 years later, feels like a direct-to-video cash grab and that's pretty much what you get. It's not terrible, but it's a fairly routine prison break story in a sci-fi setting. Not awful, but nothing worth seeking out unless you are a major Christoper Lambert fan.
Review of Fortress 2: Re-Entry
