Escape Plan, formally known as The Tomb, is directed by Mikael Håfström and stars 1980s action legends Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Stallone's character purposefully gets himself put in various prisons in the United States, and finds their weaknesses by escaping from them. Without spoiling much, he ends up in a super-secret prison and befriends Arnold Schwarzenegger's character, and forms a plan to escape.
Now if you were to just read the paragraph above you would think a) I gotta see this movie!, and b) this is going to be as cheesy and dumb as a movie can get!
If you do decide to see Escape Plan, please God lower your expectations like I did. Expect the expected on this occasion and you will enjoy Escape Plan a hell of a lot more!
The movie is, admittedly, a dumb and cheesy, popcorn action movie. However, I don't think it is as dumb as you would first think. For example, I love the first act of this movie. I think it does a good job in setting the scene plus gives us an absolute treat of an introduction to Sylvester's Stallone's character Breslin. That part of the movie was well edited and well handled in my opinion plus introduced us to a bunch of other characters.
The first part of this movie was just really enjoyable for me. Stallone in these movies is always a perfect choice for this particular genre, and in Escape Plan he fails to disappoint in what is, in my opinion, his best role for a couple of years.
Act 1 of the movie is somewhat grounded in some form of realism and I really dug it. However, the movie never ever hits the heights from then on. If the movie had stayed like that a higher rating would have been inevitable. The movie takes a decline as soon as Stallone enters the super-secret prison.
It isn't bad from then on but it never really hits the same heights. The prison I felt was quite an unrealistic setting in my opinion for a movie like this. From then on, the movie felt exaggerated and over the top in terms of it's setting. The prison is filled with glass prison cells and guards who where "V for Vendetta" type face masks. Wasn't a particular fan of that.
But Stallone and Schwarzenegger absolutely make this movie. The 2 action legends play off each other very well indeed; they share good banter and dialogue between each other. In my opinion there is nobody to touch Arnie in an action movie and in Escape Plan he shows why. He's an absolute badass and of course delivers his famous one-liners. Of course they are cheesy and repetitive as hell, but they never fail to make me laugh!
Jim Caviezel as the warden was good in the role and did a respectable effort in challenging the screen presence of both Stallone and Schwarzenegger. However, his character was slightly under developed and was just your average cliché villain; who would have a ridiculous hobby and have mannerism like dusting off your shirt before you kill someone.
The rest of the cast are fairly forgettable, minus Vinnie Jones. That guy makes me laugh!
I can't say this more but it is obvious that this movie is cheesy as hell and if that will annoy you then please do not waste your time. In terms of its story, I thought it was a lot smarter than I thought it was going to be plus the main actors deliver a sound performance.
The movie behind the camera is average in my opinion. As we have seen in the past prison movies have the capability to produce stunning and memorable cinematography via grand swooping shots and editing cut to perfection (The Shawshank Redemption). Escape Plan doesn't offer that as it's main strengths are through the 2 performances of Stallone and Arnie.
A big action movie also has to have exiting action scenes which were well handled. It's purely dumb entertainment while watching scenes like that but they are still sufficient. The special effects are fairly good as well; they are used well during the movie as a means to actually develop the plot. They look clear and colourful.
However, that is all undone by a scene near the end of the film which involves fire. I shall say no more!
Escape Plan is a good movie if you lower your expectations. The scenes involving Stallone and Schwarzenegger simply talking are absolutely golden. Well worth seeing. It isn't as dumb as you might think plus if you can accept some of the cheesy aspects, you will enjoy yourself while watching it. Weighing up the positives and negatives of this movie, Escape Plan gets this rating:
Rating - B-
1 sentence summary - Admittedly cheesy entertainment, but it is not as dumb as you would first think!
Have I been too generous rating Escape Plan as shown above? Comment if you will..
Thanks for reading,
Matt
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