‘Lockout’: Watch the first five minutes

The first five minutes of the sci-fi actioner "Lockout" recently hit the Web. The introduction catches up with Guy Pearce's character, Snow, mid-interrogation, and things get punchy pretty fast. When the wisecracking character isn't getting bashed in the face during the excellent title reveal, he's delivering numerous fists to the face of some unfortunate goon.

Described by many as "'Taken' in Space," "Lockout" follows Snow, a wrongly convicted super agent who is offered his freedom by the government if he can rescue the president's daughter ("Lost's" Maggie Grace -- and, yes, she was in "Taken," too) from a prison that has been overthrown by its inmates.

Sounds simple enough, right? There's one catch: The prison is in space -- a maximum-security facility orbiting the planet, and home to earth's most dangerous criminals.

You can watch a clip of some of the action from later in the film here, but in the meantime, take a gander at the first five minutes of "Lockout" below.

It's a solid B-movie action premise, one that aspires to combine the best elements of movies like "Die Hard," John Carpenter's "Escape From New York," and of course, the Liam Neeson badass fest "Taken" -- which was also produced by "Lockout's" Luc Besson ("The Fifth Element").

Snow seems like a long-overdue action hero role for Pearce, an actor who has been turning in stellar, mostly dramatic work for nearly two decades but who never seemed to get a shot at this kind of role. Pearce buffed up for the role and looks completely at home delivering snappy one-liners and knees to the face. Where has this badass version of the Australian actor been hiding?

Reviews for the film have been mixed so far, but can you honestly say no to the words "space prison"?

"Lockout" hits theatres April 13.

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