Escape, 2023.
Directed by Howard J. Ford.
Starring Sarah Alexander Marks, Sophie Rankin, Sean Cronin, Louis James, Angela Dixon, Glenn Salvage, Jon-Paul Gates ,Ksenia Islamova, Tiffany Hannam-Daniels, and Anthony Ofogebu.
SYNOPSIS:
When best friends Karla (Marks) and Lucy (Rankin) take a luxury getaway on a remote island resort, it’s not long before their heaven turns into hell when they are kidnapped by a human trafficking gang. Locked up with more young women to be shipped overseas, the prisoners decide they only have one option – fight back or die…
A cheap and practical revenge thriller, filmed all on location and what you would expect from an independent film such as this. Director Howard J. Ford brings together a sun-kissed, glamorous setup with equally sun-kissed ladies Sarah Alexandra Marks and Sophie Rankin to a carefree holiday. But as you’re sucked into their at times irritating, care-free, entitled world, it doesn’t last long. A deplorable Sean Cronin as our villain Andras really gets under your skin.
One of the perks of independent filmmaking means there is little budget for excess CGI or location hopping. Ford uses everything around him at his disposal to try and create a story that is relevant to audiences, something never far from the mass media. It’s clear that while he’s trying to make a point, it can be lost a little in the production.
Cronin is the main draw for this film – he grounds everything and shatters the illusion of a carefree idyllic vacation. With his sex trafficking hoodlums, he creates a very unlikeable character (but then that’s the point) who you know will get his just desserts, and you hope it’s a grim one.
Marks and Ranking surprise too, not just relying on look to sell the story, but actually being able to convey some heart, guile and emotion when needed. It’s a shame not all the ladies involved are as engaged as the two leads. As you would expect being ten of them, a number are there for window dressing and don’t add much; the ones who do stick out like a sore thumb with their range of personalities and back stories.
But in order to escape their prisoners before they are sold to the market, cue the tag line of having to fight back or die. And they do so with anything and everything they can find. It’s survival of the fittest, and our ladies go through some drastic changes in their outlook and morality when having to face such danger both in their unknown environment and their kidnappers.
This is what you’re here for though, let’s be honest. The pay-off. The revenge. The way our women turn from helpless to heroic, at times even sadistic! Cue the bone crunching, head smashing and blood spilling antics that never really disappoint. It never gets old seeing men of this nature get what they deserve.
It’s watchable to the point of tongue-in-cheek badass babes fighting back against their male oppressors. More sisters doing it for themselves; not so much the same as 2024’s Blink Twice, but it’s still ladies fighting back against the despicable crimes of man.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Chris Gelderd
