Lewis Teague
Wedlock

A classic science fiction film featuring the great Rutger Hauer in the lead role, in a story that, in truth, ultimately contains few elements specifically belonging to the world of science fiction and is instead more of a bona fide thriller. Directed by Lewis Teague, 'Wedlock' (1991) is indeed set in a near future not very different from the present of 1991, in which a particular punitive system is applied by prison institutions to inmates: an experimental program aiming to achieve maximum rule compliance by applying a special collar to each prisoner. Every collar is connected to that of another prisoner. However, none of the prisoners knows who their 'partner' is. If one of the prisoners moves away, tries to escape, and goes 100 meters away from their 'partner,' both collars explode, blowing their heads off and killing them instantly. Additionally, this new system provides, according to the plans of the prison warden (Stephen Tobolowsky) of 'Camp Holliday,' what is intended to become a real business: the construction of actual holiday villages, managed through the strict discipline obtained from its inmates.

In this prison and with the collar around his neck, we find the protagonist of the story, Frank Warren (Rutger Hauer), an electronics expert who ended up inside after stealing a large consignment of diamonds and being betrayed by his friend Sam (James Remar) and his girlfriend Noelle (Chen), who shot him three times believing to kill him and take possession of the diamonds, which Warren had previously hidden. For this reason, he will be subjected to all sorts of abuse by the prison warden, who, in agreement with Sam and Noelle, wants to know at all costs where the diamonds are in order to seize them. To achieve this, Frank Warren will be forced to undergo all kinds of possible violence (including hermetically sealed isolation in a tank of icy water) and humiliation, but Frank will unexpectedly prove to be tough and refuse to yield, until he finally manages to escape from prison with the complicity of another inmate, Tracy Riggs (Mimi Rogers), who turned out to be his 'partner,' thus triggering a real manhunt in which he will have both the police and especially his former friends Sam and Noelle on his heels.

Ultimately, 'Wedlock' is probably more an action film than specifically a science fiction film, and particularly for long stretches, one of those typical prison-themed movies where the protagonist becomes the target of institutions. Inevitably, comparisons with other films of the genre arise. The first one that comes to mind is 'Brubaker' (1980) by Stuart Rosenberg and featuring a gigantic Robert Redford (curiously, he would reprise a similar role twenty-one years later in 'The Last Castle' by Rod Lurie). This although, clearly in this case, we are simply facing a good film and not one of the great masterpieces in the history of cinema. Recommended if you like Rutger Hauer and because it's surrounded by an interesting cast: Mimi Rogers, Joan Chen (choose the most beautiful), the great James Remar, and Stephen Tobolowsky. But also noteworthy are the appearance of Danny Trejo and the presence of an interesting character actor like Denis Forest.