Escape Plan, 2013
Directed by Mikael Håfström.
Starring Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, 50 Cent, Jim Caviezel, Vinnie Jones, Sam Neill, Faran Tahir, Vincent D’Onofrio and Amy Ryan.
SYNOPSIS:
When a structural-security authority finds himself set up and incarcerated in the world’s most secret and secure prison, he has to use his skills to escape with help from the inside.
It’s fair to say that Schwarzenegger’s return to the big screen has been somewhat anti-climactic. Despite it being great to see “Arnie” back on the big screen, the movie-going public just aren’t buying into it and The Last Stand and Sabotage have shown that he just doesn’t have the box office drawing power he once had. Conversely, Sylvester Stallone always seems to do well for himself but, like Schwarzenegger, isn’t proving to be the hit with audiences the way he did in the 1980s and 90s.
So, with this in mind, you would think that the pair should knock it on the head and call it a day at being “action stars”.
And then a movie like Escape Plan comes out. It offers nothing new, does very little to mess with the formula but proves to be a huge amount of fun with two likeable leading performances. Arnie and Sly are finally teaming up – and it’s a lot of fun.
Stallone plays Ray Breslin, a man who is hired by prisons to break out of them to show the cracks in their systems. However he is given his toughest challenge yet – a maximum security prison that is off the grid and holds the worst of the worst. Thing go south quickly for Breslin though as the job is a set-up and he is now trapped with no means of escape. Thankfully, he partners up with Rottmayer (Schwarznegger) and the two plot Breslin’s most daring prison escape yet.
There is a phrase that is banded around this type of movie that always seems a bit unfair – “turn your brain off and enjoy”. You should never have to “turn your brain off” as a movie should always engage, even when it is a light piece of action fluff like Escape Plan. And to its credit, Escape Plan isn’t a “turn your brain off” movie as the characters are enjoyable, their chemistry is brilliant and the action set pieces are really fun to watch. It’s great to see these action icons share the screen together when it’s not done for the sake of a gimmick (Expendables) and the break out itself is a wonderful piece of cinema.
The action sensibly cuts away to scenes with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Amy Ryan who act as Stallone’s help, but their characters are never fleshed out or defined making them ultimately pointless. Vincent D’Onofrio is excellent as always as the mysterious Lester Clark, but these scenes just are what they are – filler, something to break up the plot and pad the runtime. It’s not a problem, but these are the moments where the film feels a bit drab.
But this is a movie that is thankfully about its leads – Arnie and Sly. And for that, the movie gets a big gold star for presenting an incredibly fun little action romp that never takes itself too seriously, but doesn’t just skim over the details of the plot. The escape is well thought out and the characters relationship is clearly defined which in turn makes you care about their freedom.
As stated already, Escape Plan does nothing new but it never tries to. It knows what it is but doesn’t just phone it in. It’s a lot of fun and it’s certainly the best of Schwarzenegger’s outings since his return to the big screen. If this movie was released 20 years ago, it would still be talked about today as “one of the best”, but as is it is in 2014, it’s just a good piece of enjoyable cinema.
Flickering Myth Rating: Film ★ ★ ★ / Movie ★ ★ ★
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published June 2, 2014. Updated April 11, 2018.
