Fortress MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +1 Content: -3 1/2

John Brennick and his wife Karen (Christopher Lambert and Loryn Locklyn) are arrested trying to leave the United States for Canada. It's 2017 and Karen is pregnant with their second child, which is against the law, as is abortion. John and Karen are taken to the Fortress, an underground maximum security prison in the desert. The prison is run by Zed, a powerful computer, and is overseen by Warden Poe (Kurtwood Smith). Poe is able to monitor the prisoner's dreams, with Zed's help, and then inflict pain on the men as punishment for dreaming. All prisoners are forced to swallow an intestinator, a golf ball sized device that can control the prisoner by causing intense pain or even death. John, a former Black Beret military officer, confronts Poe and becomes a hero among the inmates. When Karen sees the fate of her soon-to-be-born child, she works from inside Poe's office to help John find a way to escape. FORTRESS begins with an interesting premise, but deteriorates rapidly into a basic prison movie with a disappointing script and poor acting.

Viewers of this film must stomach a lot of objectionable material as well. It's extremely violent - bloody, gory and graphic. Two men are blown to bits. One man has a hole blown through him. Another man's intestinator "goes off." As one might expect, language is foul and frequent, including incessant f- and s-words and several regular profanities. Full rear female nudity, and female breast nudity are shown a few times, once in a sexual intercourse scene between John and Karen. There are many scenes with full male rear nudity and near full frontal nudity. Several full frontal nude photos of women litter one cell floor. A male-male rape scene is depicted, with no nudity. Severe violence, sexual situations, nudity and language make FORTRESS a film to avoid.

Preview Reviewer: Pete Zimowski
Distributor: Miramax Films, 375 Greenwich, NY, NY 10013