No Escape

Starring: Owen Wilson, Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Sterling Jerins, Claire Geare, Sahajak Boonthanakit
Directed by: John Erick Dowdle
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Thriller
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An American family gets caught in a coup in Asia when rioters decide to start killing Americans.

Review:

Tim: No Escape is a movie that has some aspects that are so strong and excellent, and yet, a troubling undercurrent that is a bit pitiable. It's hard to evaluate a movie that exists on both extremes of the spectrum. I would say that there was slightly more to like than to not like, and as a result, I found this film to be an entertaining, suspenseful thriller. Still, you have to acknowledge both aspects of the film.

Let's start with the positives. This film is incredibly intense and thrilling. Wisely, we have some strong scenes of character development early on, so we actually care about this American family. We feel empathy for the sense of foreignness about their new surroundings. When the violence starts, we legitimately fear for them and want them to survive. The story creates a surprisingly high number of dangerous and suspenseful situations confronting them. The film handles this very well, as the characters move from one horrifying situation to the next. The story rarely gives the characters- or the audience- a chance to breathe. There's some very memorable moments, even if they do ask us to suspend our sense of incredulity a bit. The jumping/throwing people off the roof scene was a bit silly, but riveting. The scene where the family is traveling on a motorcycle through the crowd made me very uncomfortable and caused me to hold my breath. The night scene in the little meditation garden was another strong one. The film just does a very good job of creating these these tension-filled sequences.

I do have to acknowledge some of the film's weaknesses. The biggest one has to do with race. The way the story is presented, the white Americans are the good guys, and the Asian people are the villains. We never know the exact country they're in, we never know what the violence is all about. It's almost as if those facts were purposefully kept from us, because they don't matter. All you need to know is white = good, nonwhite = bad (of course, they can't be that blunt, so there's a few good Asian people who help the white characters). I'm not suggesting this was a deliberate attempt by the filmmakers, but I have to believe at the very least, unspoken biases popped up here. The aforementioned scene with jumping off the roof featured an example- there's an Asian character with the family. He stands there an agonizingly long time, waiting for each of them to take their turn jumping across the roof before finally going himself. SPOILER ALERT- it's too late. Maybe he was an honorable and respectable character who sacrificed himself to save these white Americans. Or maybe, it was another data point in the white lives vs. nonwhite lives commentary of the film. I don't have a fully formed idea around this, but it was a bit troublesome as I watched.

The cast is mostly good. I really like Owen Wilson in these non-comedy roles. It's been way, way too long since he did one of these (the very good Behind Enemy Lines was the last one, I believe). He is able to keep his comedy chops in check and delivers a strong performance. Lake Bell was good as his wife- I thought she was given at least a few interesting things to do. While her role is clearly second fiddle, at least she wasn't always the damsel in distress. I know I've seen Bell in other movies, but I couldn't tell you anything about her performances- she was pretty forgettable. I felt like for perhaps the first time, she impressed me and was memorable. I'd actually be slightly more than ambivalent about seeing her in future roles. That's a positive step. Pierce Brosnan was fun to see in a role that allowed him to get a little dirty, but ended up being closer to his wheelhouse than I expected.

In conclusion, No Escape delivers a suspenseful, high intensity thrill ride almost from start to finish. There's real tension in this film. That is absolutely worth watching. The social and racial commentary (whether intended or not) is a bit troubling, which prevents this film from being as good as it could have been. I still enjoyed the movie as a whole.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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Behind Enemy Lines