Product Details

• Actors: Christopher Lambert, Beth Toussaint, Willie Garson, Aidan Rea, David Roberson
• Directors: Geoff Murphy
• Writers: John Flock, Peter Doyle, Steven Feinberg, Troy Neighbors
• Producers: Craig Berenson, John Flock, Romain Schroeder
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: April 25, 2000
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004REZH
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #421,721 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Christopher Lambert in a straight-to-video sci-fi film? You know it's gotta be good. Here he reprises his role as John Brennick, former leader of the Resistance and thorn in the side of the MEN-TEL corporation. In the first movie, Brennick escaped from and destroyed MEN-TEL's high-tech "inescapable" prison. In the 10 years since then, he's gotten himself a house in the woods and some horses, and has illegally procreated with his wife. When Resistance members find him and try to recruit him back into the cause, the bad guys are not far behind, and after some two-dollar action scenes he finds himself captured and thrown into MEN-TEL's brand-new prison, which happens to be orbiting the Earth. Surely, nobody could ever escape from this! Except maybe, just maybe John Brennick!

The plot is even more predictable than the placement of the co-ed shower scenes, to the point that you can practically quote the dialogue before it's spoken, with the only surprises being which cliché they're going to use, and when. (By the way, these violent prisoners are actually being used to build and modify the satellite they're imprisoned in!) Pam Grier has an embarrassing cameo as the owner of MEN-TEL, and the dignity she tries to bring to the role is entirely out of place. The only fun to be had is if you watch it as if you're watching a bunch of adults play "action film," making for a strange entertainment, indeed. --Andy Spletzer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Nothing like the original, a BIG disappointment!, July 12, 2000

By 

Andrei Pankov (Ann Arbor, MI, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fortress 2: Re-entry (DVD)

When I saw Fortress I was very impressed by it. Fortress was a very interesting story that showed us how several people escaped out of high-tech prison that even controled prisoners thoughts. Fortress 2: Re-Entry unlike the original has an atmosphere of a B-type sci-fi movie. In fact, fortress (or what supposed to be a high-tech prison) in this sequel had an atmosphere of some group home for mentally retarded. As for me it did not look like a high-tech prison at all.

There were many other things in the movie that made it totally unrealistic and unbelivable. For example a part when our main hero (played by Lambert) takes a deep breath and jumps in to the space to get from one part of the satellite to the other. That is nonsense, you cannot be in the outer space without a protective costume. (Can't they talk to someone who knows little about science) When I reached that particular part of the movie I lost all of the remaining respect that I had for it completely. This is nothing more than a cheap, boring, poorly thought out, sequel to a good movie.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sequel lacks the budget and performances of the original, July 31, 2002

By 

Alex (Dublin, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fortress 2 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Although I really enjoyed the original movie, "Fortress 2: Re-entry" is disappointing in comparison. The film offers a promising storyline: John and Karen Brennick are shown 10 years later with their son, hiding from the MenTel Corporation. John is eventually captured and sent to a prison space station to serve his sentence for having another child, while Karen and her son are still being pursued by MenTel. Again, John is driven to escape from this dismal prison. The magic that made the first "Fortress" work is not present in this film. The special effects are of poor quality, and the actors' performances are not very good. This movie may be worth renting just to see what happens to the characters from the first film.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It needs a lot more work, April 7, 2002

By 

Shaun O'Donnell "Shaun O'Donnell" (Fort Worth, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fortress 2: Re-entry (DVD)

Ten year after the events of the Fortresss, Lambert is back in this mediocre sequel to a classic. Christopher Lambert returns as Braddock, the father who had one to many kids. It takes place ten years later, the kid is healthy and the family are continuously on the run from Mentel. Eventualy Lambert gets caught and is put in the new Fortress, a space prison that is in space (that will hold them). With some scenes of violence, nudity, and language this is your typical Sci-Fi borefest.

So if the movie is so bad why give it 3 stars? The acting was fairly decent and I liked the setting. Also the story was pretty good, it's just that the acting needed some seriouse work, and laser effects looked like they were done in the late 70's early 80's, not 1998.

It's recommended that you check into this so you can see the conclusion of the story. However it's not entirly neccessary because you can easily just be happy with how the first one ended.