after make an astound breakthrough into the horror genre with the splatter classic re animator and stuart gordon career have consist of a wild string of hit and miss . his big miss be fortress and a futuristic prison breakout film that be also his big hit and prove so popular that a sequel come out half a decade later . when i say his big miss and i mean that despite be a box office hit and the film meet with a mixed reaction from critic and genre fan alike . i personally do not like the film fortress be sci fi at it most brainless . it be perhaps the bad film that gordon have ever make ( not to mention be so cheesy that it will win a french cheese competition ) . the usa have become a totalitarian regime and with a law pass that limit a woman to one child only . marine captain john brennick and his wife and who be pregnant with her second child ( the first die at birth ) and be catch at a checkpoint and send to the fortress and a seclude underground prison complex situate in the middle of a desert . there and prisoner be terrorise by pain causing implant and computer control device that censor dream . brennick attempt to conduct a prison breakout and no mean feat consider that the prison be virtually escape proof . fortress be actually a wild concoction of every sci fi cliché under the sun and which and although entertain in the check your brain at the door sense and prove to be amazingly silly . first and the film show the u adopt a one child policy and which be rather improbable give the fact that the u be a large country and be not pack to the brim like china and thereby make such a law pointless . the implant be another thing they be poorly design ( they can be pull out of the prisoner body use magnetics ) and there be nothing to stop them from be pass out a waste matter . the dream censor be ridiculous to say the least if they can eliminate wet dream and then why be prisoner go around rap their fellow inmate . the film also shove in cyborg ( a staple of many self respect genre film during the 1990s ) and with a cyborg governor ( who act more human than machine ) and whole cyborg swat team and who prove to be nothing more than convenient cannon fodder for our hero and although they do kill half the escape party . the acting be rather mixed . christopher lambert do his naughty schoolboy impression ( he be one of the most wooden actor around ) and while his fellow inmate be a lot more believable and with jeffery comb play a jittery nutbag to perfection and kurtwood smith try to be a sympathetic villain and but narrowly miss out on that role by tom towles . gordon throw in his usual darkly comedic splatter and which do contribute greatly to the film watchability and although it be a style which belong more to the horror genre than an action film like fortress .