Review of Escape Plan (2013) by Justin B — 01 Jul 2015

Finally, Stallone and Schwarzenegger are in a film together where it's just those two, it admittedly took a long time but at least it actually happened. 'Escape Plan' is a fun and interesting film. Arnold's leading role comeback and a team-up film both in the same year, how awesome!

I did think it was a little odd that Breslin's job was to put himself in prison on purpose just to escape. I thought it would have worked just as well if he was a professional prison breaker but they manage to make it fit into the story well, they create a conflict around that and you do wonder what exactly is going on. I understand his job is to make sure that prisons are totally foolproof but given how thorough he was in how he was trying to escape, I think prisons will be okay. But then again, given his thorough he was, it was interesting to see how everything played out, especially how visually interesting it was when Breslin was planning everything. It also didn't play to the cliché of, if it fades out when you start to discuss your plan that means it'll work or, if you tell the audience your plan it will fail, it manages to keep it fresh. The film reminded me of 'Face/Off' at parts, which, funnily enough, I saw this film on that film's 18th anniversary. This film is also quite different from what the two stars are usually known for; it makes smart use of the cast.

The film has a good cast and everyone does a good job, Schwarzenegger especially. Jim Caviezel played his part well and someone would have to act like he does for his job, with having to be emotionally distant but he was hamming it up so much and it was awesome. He does bring up a good point though, if you try to escape and mess up, they're just going to go and fix that area and make it harder for you to escape, even if when he said 'C to Babylon didn't make much sense because in NATO you say the full word when you're saying letters, but then again, B isn't Babylon so I'm not sure what that was, perhaps I'm looking too deep into it. I do like how the two leads aren't just friends right away but I do think that Breslin trusted Rottmayer a little too quickly, as everyone else seemed to trust everyone quickly as well. 50 Cent seemed like he was hardly used though, but he does have some standout moments, so it's all good.

The film had classic one-liners, was quite funny and at one point someone mentions a, 'particular set of skills' and it reminded me of 'Taken'. It was filmed and edited well and the action was fun and filmed well so we can see everything clearly with Arnold doing that backdrop move again and everything was fast paced. The only part that seemed a little strange is the beginning when we see a little bit of the film, the title randomly appears on screen and then the film keeps going, it seemed kind of oddly assembled.

'Escape Plan' has the pairing of the two action stars as the main attraction but it's also good that the film around that is a very well made, well acted and is an interesting and fun film.