Escape Plan Review

[Westside Steve]

Escape Plan

Summit

R 116 min

 

Speaking of surprises in this issue I have to say that I wasn't surprised by the latest Sylvester Stallone Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick.

And that's unfortunate because I was really hoping that might happen here. I really wanted to see these two guys, who I actually like quite a bit, really tear the roof off the place. But what I expected was pretty much what I got.

ESCAPE PLAN isn't a bad movie at all. It’s just nothing spectacular and not quite good enough to warrant the investment in two of actiondoms biggest stars.

I'm going to turn on the red spoiler light just in case you care. This starts out with a somewhat interesting premise. Stallone is a bad dude and locked up in a maximum security prison. Using something of a Sherlock Holmes in reverse method he figures out all the weaknesses that have been overlooked by the prisons bosses.

He makes the escape look easier than skipping a substitute teacher’s class. Then explicably he is picked right back up, having made no attempt to hide. That's when we find out that busting out of the hoosegow is actually his job. Yep he works for a security company that figures out a way to get him incarcerated so he can find the proverbial chink in the armor. Well the plot thickens as a CIA agent comes to this little group of Houdinis with an offer to check out a secret government prison at a price that seems too good to be true.

And it is. Before long our hero finds that he's actually stuck in this place isolated from his support team and worse yet bad guys want to make sure he never sees the light of day again. Now this whole scheme is a bit convoluted but trust me, I didn't waste a lot of time fretting over that. Inside this mega super secret prison he teams up with Arnie, and the two of them start unravelinging secrets. Or something. It isn't really a great hook, just enough mortar to hold the bricks of action together.

For what it's worth the acting and casting isn't bad either. We get what we expect from Stallone and Schwarzenegger but added to the core is Sam Neill as the doctor with a conscience, Vincent D’Onofrio as the weasle operations boss and Jim Caviezel as the evil warden. I thought the writers could have easily revved up these three roles which came off just a bit underwhelming in the final production.

There is also a fair twist ending. Nothing David Mamet would have been proud of but at least good enough to keep me from rolling my eyes.

So when I say I was disappointed it doesn't mean this is a bad action flick. I just always hope for great when you have this much star power on the table.

Kinda like the pro bowl.

 

C+

 

WSS

 

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