Review of Escape Plan (2013) by Grant H — 14 Aug 2014

What can I say? When you give me Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Caviezel in the same film, I'm already going to watch it. But when you have the plot sound like it was ripped right from the 80's, I'll be sitting there with a dumb grin on my face.

I love the classic 80's action films. They were big, loud, dumb, and entirely awesome. Enter Escape Plan, which has Stallone play a man who breaks out of prisons for a living to enhance their security, only to get thrown into a prototype maximum security prison, which is seemingly inescapable.

The film plays out like you'd expect, hitting the familiar beats in terms of plotting. But where the fun comes in is with Stallone and Schwarzenegger. This is their first team up outside of The Expendables franchise, and it's what you'd expect: Jokes and action between the two, but that sweet brotherly rivalry that we all know and love is there.

And surprisingly, Schwarzenegger actually seemed extremely lively and steals the whole film in one particular scene. The action is all there, whether it's gunfights or brutal fisticuffs, and neither disappoint.

The acting is decent. Cheesy, but decent, with Jim Caviezel proving again that he can intimidating and soft spoken. The real standout is Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent. And by standout, I mean he is absolutely horrible.

The less that's said, the better. Overall, Escape Plan is just an enjoyable throwback, and there's nothing wrong with that.