Lockdown (2000 film)

Lockdown
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Luessenhop
Produced by	Mark Burg Jeff Clanagan Oren Koules Stevie Lockett
Written by	Preston A. Whitmore II
Starring	Richard T. Jones Gabriel Casseus Master P David "Shark" Fralick De'Aundre Bonds Melissa De Sousa Bill Nunn Clifton Powell Sticky Fingaz Joe Torry
Music by	John Frizzell
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures (International) Rainforest Films (US)
Release dates	September 15, 2000 (International release), February 14, 2003 (US release)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$449,482

Lockdown is a 2000 drama film, directed by John Luessenhop and starring Richard T. Jones, Clifton Powell, David "Shark" Fralick, and Master P. The film was produced by Master's P's No Limit Films, a division of his No Limit Records label.

Plot

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Avery Montgomery (Jones) is taking time off from college to spend time with his girlfriend Krista (Melissa De Sousa), and help raise their young son. Despite the lack of black swimmers, Avery develops to a championship level, and as a result of a particularly impressive win he gets the opportunity for a possible scholarship.

Cashmere (Casseus), happens to be one of Avery's best friends since childhood. Despite the fact that their personalities and lifestyles are quite different, Avery being a level-headed straight-edge that stays out of trouble. With their friend Dre (De'aundre Bonds), the trio have been friends since childhood.

Earlier in the day before the swim meet, Cashmere had a run-in with Broadway (Sticky Fingaz), another dealer who works under Cashmere in the hierarchy. Cashmere is expected to bring back five $10 rocks. $50 is also expected or else he gets beat up or killed. Broadway happened to be short in his return, and it angered Cashmere, who proceeds to kick Broadway down a flight of metal stairs and pull out a gun to assert his power.

Broadway runs off, but vows to get revenge and, after an attempted robbery later in the day where he shoots and kills a young girl at a drive-through, he wipes off his gun and tosses it into the backseat of Cashmere's open convertible when he is out of the car, which looks similar enough to Broadway's car to be mistaken for it (the only difference being Broadway's car is a hard-top).

After the swim meet, Cashmere and Dre, who are there to cheer him on, convince Avery to come out and celebrate his big victory, but he just wants to spend some time with Krista instead. However, she tells him to go out and he changes his mind before hops in the car and they drive off. At a certain point, Dre, who is riding in the back seat, finds the gun, and questions Cashmere about violating their unwritten rule. Cashmere has no idea what he is talking about, and the three men realize that they have a strange gun, in their possession, and had no idea where it came from and what it could have been used for.

As they were arguing over how to get rid of it, some cops spot them and, thinking their car looks similar to Broadway's car, come up behind them and pull them over. One of the officers orders them out of the car at gunpoint, which they obey, but a few moments later Cashmere's pit bull runs toward the officer, who shoots the dog dead. Cashmere pulls out the gun in anger, but is shot in the shoulder and knocked down.

After being wrongfully convicted of Broadway's crime, the three are sent to the same medium security prison while serving a ten-year prison sentence for manslaughter. Each man experiences different events: Cashmere beats up and threatens his cellmate; Dre is raped and turned to a prison sex slave by his psychotic cellmate named Graffiti (David "Shark" Fralick), who controls much of the prison's drug flow and is the leader of a neo-Nazi gang; and Avery meets a cellmate named Malachi Young (Clifton Powell) who is in jail for 18 years (for an unknown sentence). Avery tries to take his anger out on him just like Cashmere, but Malachi has the upper hand and pins him against the door, before warning him that if he's bringing conflict to the cell, he's bringing it to him. Graffiti's rival, Clean Up (Master P) is another drug trafficker who Cashmere began to work for.

Meanwhile, Charles Pierce (Bill Nunn), the college scout who Avery met on his fateful night, knows without being told that Avery was wrongfully convicted and decides to help his release efforts, along with his daughter, an accomplished lawyer. Avery is resentful and resistant at first, towards both Pierce and Krista (at one point yelling at her to never come back because it "would do them both better") but eventually accepts their visitations and attempts to help. Graffiti finds two drug shells that he got from his two bisexual girlfriends in his cell toilet and he along with his gang are back in business, but a corrupt guard named Perez warns them not to retaliate against Clean Up's gang. Graffiti and the gang kill Nuke anyway. His dead body is found in the prison laundry room, and the warden orders a lockdown for 24 hours while on the next night, Dre tries to resist Graffiti but is overpowered and forced to perform oral sex.

One day, Dre shoots up heroin and comes back to his cell to find an angry Graffiti waiting for him. Dre tries to strangle Graffiti while starting to build some resistance. Graffiti, who's twice his size, eventually gets the upper hand back and starts to beat him up. Avery, who happens to be on his way to see Dre, despite Malachi's warnings not get involved (because an immate that is raped and turned to a sex slave by his cellmate is used as property and even a simple talk with him can have serious consequences) jumps in to protect him. Avery, who is strong, muscular, and Graffiti's size, beats him to a pulp, but not before a bunch of Graffiti's guys jump on Avery, and Malachi has to save him, beating up several of them and throwing one over the second floor railing onto a table.

Malachi, Avery, Graffiti, Dre and the others involved have to go to a disciplinary hearing, in which Malachi, in the ultimate act of unselfishness and sacrifice (after being allowed to go in first, even though he had almost nothing to do with most the incident), takes responsibility for the entire thing to spare Avery a dirty discipline record and assault charge. Malachi, in an unexplained move, flies into a rage in front of the hearing panel, screaming and throwing chairs around the room and getting shipped out to a maximum security prison for his efforts. But at this point, Avery has gleaned enough that he can now be solo like Malachi and it won't be a huge loss for him. Avery then gets a new cellmate who tries the same greeting to Avery, and Avery gives him the same response he got from Malachi, and he becomes his mentor.

Later on, Cashmere and Cleanup approach Dre (after realizing the only way to get their drug business going is to get rid of Graffiti) to inform him that it's not over with Graffiti and that he needs to watch his back (implying that Graffiti is going to kill him, so it's kill-or-be-killed situation). Cashmere offers Dre drugs to help him do what he needs to do to Graffiti. Dre approaches Graffiti at a gospel concert at the prison and stabs him to death. Dre is killed with a blow to the head from the nightstick of the crooked guard Perez.

Meanwhile, somebody has been snitching and busting Clean Up's drug mules and he comes to the wrong conclusion that Avery is the snitch. This is not true, but he assumes anyway and wants Cashmere to take care of him, e.g. kill him. During a riot in the prison yard (which happens to break out at the same time Charles Pierce brought prison officials a dying declaration from Broadway... right before he hanged himself in prison doing his own time, which meant Avery's immediate release), Cashmere goes up to Avery and stabs him. Avery fights through the stab wound and fights Cashmere for his life. Cleanup, seeing he's not doing the proper job, stabs Cashmere in the back and tries to kill Avery himself. Cashmere, who still had love for Avery despite their differences inside, comes up behind Clean Up and stabs him to death.

Avery, after a minute of wondering if he could still trust him, realizes that it was all in the game, and even though he didn't see Broadway's letter yet, realizes inside that Cashmere (who he originally blamed for getting him locked up) is relatively blameless. Meanwhile, a guard named Barkley orders Cashmere to drop his shank. Cashmere, either because he somehow doesn't hear the command, or just out of spite, keeps holding it. Just as he and Avery are about to embrace, a guard unloads a shot into his back on Barkley's order, killing him instantly.

Prison officials get to Avery before anything else can happen; he is shortly released into the waiting arms of Krista and his son.

Cast

• Richard T. Jones as Avery Montgomery
• Gabriel Casseus as Cashmere
• De'Aundre Bonds as Dre
• Melissa De Sousa as Krista
• Bill Nunn as Charles
• Clifton Powell as Malachi Young
• Sticky Fingaz as Broadway
• Joe Torry as Alize
• Master P as Clean Up
• David "Shark" Fralick as Graffiti
• Andrew Divoff as Mexican Gendarme (Graffiti friend)
• Lloyd Avery II as Nate
• Dianna St. Hilaire as Martina

Production

The film's prison scenes were shot on location at the then-closed down New Mexico State Penitentiary."

Release

Lockdown was screened at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival and released September 15, 2000 internationally. It closed out the 2001 Hollywood Black Film Festival. Lockdown was released in the U.S. on February 14, 2003.

Box office

At the end of its box office run, Lockdown earned a gross of $449,482 in North America. For the opening weekend of February 14–16, 2003, the film grossed $199,000 while playing in 750 theaters.

Critical reaction

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 58% "rotten" approval rating, based on 12 reviews, with an average score of 5.8/10. The Washington Post's Stephen Hunter wrote, "What makes the movie memorable is its authenticity." Tom Long of The Detroit News wrote of the film, "Despite a low budget and predictable story line, Lockdown has undeniable power to it, fired by some fine performances and a terrifying portrayal of prison life that rings disturbingly true." And Steve Murray of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, wrote, "though over-the-top and simplistic, the film has a punchy B-movie grit and gusto." Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote that, although the film was "competently made and generally credible, [the picture] lacks the writing depth or directorial distinction needed to reinvigorate well-trod bigscreen big-house conventions." He felt that the film would have more appeal "in ancillary markets than at theaters."

External links

• Lockdown at IMDb
• Lockdown at Rotten Tomatoes
• Lockdown at Box Office Mojo