Escape Plan 2: Hades

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Dave Bautista, Xiaoming Huang, Jesse Metcalfe, 50 Cent, Wes Chatham, Chen Tang, Titus Welliver, Shea Buckner, Jamie King, Pete Wentx
Directed by: Steven C. Miller
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Thriller
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: When his most trusted operative (Xiaming Huang) is thrown into a secret prison, Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone) begins working on a plan to break him out.

Review:

Tim: I'm not entirely sure why I watched Escape Plan 2: Hades. I suppose it was out of some loyalty to the first movie (which I enjoyed). But, I knew this movie was a direct-to-DVD film and it looked significantly worse in every regard. The reviews torched the film and while I feel like some of that was just piling on, this is indeed a failure of a film.

The appeal of the first movie was the pairing of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnie wisely decided not to come back for this film, and his absence leaves a fairly gaping hole. I never really understood the point of this movie. There's another prison escape, an expanded cast, but none of it really matters, none of it makes all that much sense. One of the most shocking decisions was for Stallone to basically play a supporting role. He really doesn't have much to do in this film. He gets a moment at the end, but the majority of the film keeps him on the periphery. It was an odd, inexplicable choice. Stallone is getting older, sure- but the whole sales pitch of the film was him in this role again. I almost laughed out loud when I realized how unimportant he was to the whole film.

Xiaoming Huang really feels like the main character. I actually enjoyed his performance, so I didn't lament that too strongly. It felt like he brought something different to the role and was fairly enjoyable to watch. I liked seeing Dave Bautista here, but it felt a sad reminder of what his career might be like without the big budget action films calling. He's totally forgettable here. The rest of the cast was fairly low quality, too- 50 Cent? Jaime King? Titus Welliver? (I love him from "Lost", but you can't say he's a big name). This is a film that assembled a cast ideally suited for a VOD release that would bypass theaters.

The story is pretty much a mess. There's always some enjoyment to be had by watching people try to break out of an unbreakable prison. I derived some enjoyment from that. But the story- I'm not sure what happened. It's a convoluted, illogical mess. It's like a blend of half baked ideas. There's this weird futuristic technology angle. The characters and their backgrounds and loyalties was incredibly difficult to follow. Plus, it felt from the very beginning that this story wouldn't be worth investing your time in. The whole movie really pummels you with stupidity to the point where you don't even want to think about the story. It's the kind of movie that you have to forcefully shut off your brain to watch. The action scenes are all bland and unconvincing. The budget was too small, so the visual effects are unimpressive.

I probably should have hated this movie more, but I went in with extremely low expectations. I do genuinely like Sylvester Stallone, so it was fun to see him here, even as I lamented how he wasted his talent by appearing here. I was somewhat interested to see how the story would progress from the first film, but now that my curiosity is satisfied, I don't need to see a third movie (and I pray they don't make one).

Escape Plan 2: Hades might not be as bad as some of the critics would have you believe, but it's pretty bad. One critic called it the worst thing Stallone has ever done. I'd still give that "achievement" to Death Race 2000, but this is probably next in line. Even if you loved the first movie, I'd skip this one.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5


If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Escape Plan, Death Race 2000, Bullet to the Head