Escape Plan

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Sam Neill, Faran Tahir, Amy Ryan, Vincent D'Onofrio, Vinnie Jones, Matt Gerald
Directed by: Mikael Hafstrom
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Mystery, Thriller
2013

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A specialist (Sylvester Stallone) in prison security has to put his skills to the test and team with a dangerous criminal (Arnold Schwarzenegger) when he's wrongly imprisoned in a facility inspired by his work.

Review:

Tim: In the early 1990s, there were no bigger action stars than Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. At this point, we've had a few films in the Expendables franchise where they shared scenes together, but they had never truly made a movie together where they were equals- until now. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this film. It's ridiculous and flawed, but it is a throwback to the action films of the 90s. That's the thing I liked most about this movie. I do wish they kept the original name (The Tomb sounds much better than Escape Plan), but this is an enjoyable movie all in all.

The biggest strength is the cast. I was very impressed with everyone involved. The highlight is clearly getting so many scenes with Stallone and Schwarzenegger together. They clearly have fun sharing the screen together and it's a lot of fun watching them interact. I loved seeing these two action legends together on screen. They both play their characters well. That's the biggest strength of the film. The supporting cast is quite strong, too. I always like seeing Jim Caviezel getting work- he's such an underrated actor. He makes a great bad guy and he worked well in that role here. I love Sam Neill and it feels like a very, very long time since I've seen him in anything. His role was small, but important. I was very grateful to see him here. Vincent D'Onofrio is always a welcome addition to a cast, and Vinnie Jones was good, too. It was nice to see Amy Ryan here as well. All in all, the cast of this film was pretty fantastic.

The story was pretty interesting. You have a character who is a genius at breaking out of prisons (I loved the opening sequence where we see how Stallone broke out). You take that character who can break out of any prison, and you put him in a prison designed with his recommendations, to be unbreakable. Can a guy who can break out of any prison break out of one especially designed to prevent all breakouts? It's an interesting concept. The script was good enough to keep me intrigued in what was happening on screen.

While good, the film does have flaws. The story featured far too many moments that were just too farfetched. In the 1990s, action movies loved pushing the envelope and audiences went along for the ride. However, it's 2013, and while this film is a throwback to those films, audiences are smarter and more sophisticated now. We've seen more. After all of that, we need a more intelligent, more believable story. We didn't always get that. That is too bad. There were a few cringe-worthy moments. The middle of the film has a few moments that are a little too drawn out. The film felt solid from start to finish, but there weren't any leap-out-of-your-seat or even sit-up-straight-and-take-notice scenes.

Given the recent box office failures from Stallone and Schwarzenegger in recent years (The Last Stand, Bullet to the Head), I wasn't expecting much from this film. While it didn't light up the box office, it was a solid, entertaining movie. It reminded me of some of the great work these guys did a few decades ago. While Escape Plan doesn't reach the heights of their better movies, it's not a failure, and at this point, I'll take that.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7


If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Expendables, Bullet to the Head, The Last Stand