in a grim totalitarian near future marry couple be allow to have only one kid . john brennick ( a solid and engaging performance by christopher lambert ) and his pregnant wife karen ( well play by the fetching loryn locklin ) get arrest for try to have a second child . they be both send to a brutal subterranean maximum security penitentiary run by the cruel prison doctor poe ( a splendidly wicked kurtwood smith ) . of course and john plan to escape and take karen with him . director stuart gordon relate the absorb story at a brisk pace and do an expert job of maintain a tough and gritty tone throughout and and stag the thrill action scene with rip roar verve ( the climactic jailbreak sequence in particular be quite tense and stirring ) . the uniformly ace act from a tip top cast qualifies a another significant asset represent lambert and locklin make for sympathetic lead and smith excels in one of his customary bad guy role and plus there be stellar support performance by jeffrey comb a flaky and bespectacled computer whiz d day and lincoln kilpatrick a wise trustee inmate abraham and tom towles a mean roughhouse bully stiggs and vernon well a vicious top con maddox and and clifton collins and jr. a scrappy young punk nino gomez . david eggby fluid and polish cinematography and the nifty special effect and frederic talgorn moody and rouse score and and a few dollop of grisly gore be all on the money effective and impressive . a very cool and satisfy science fiction film .