Review of Escape Plan (2013) by Scott M — 30 Jun 2014

I will watch literally anything that features Sylvester Stallone, and a film that teams him up with Arnold Schwarzenegger sounds perfect for a prison escape movie.

Sylvester Stallone hasn't been in a prison break movie since the 1989 critically panned film Lock Up, although I actually quite enjoyed that movie too. So seeing him get back into and out of prison in Escape Plan sounded awesome on the surface. He also broke out of prison in Tango & Cash which is one of his best movies in my opinion, so essentially it can be easily dictated that he fits the profile of a prison breaker well.

With a film like Escape Plan, you don't go in looking for good dramatic virtues or great screenwriting, which is good because you get essentially none of that in Escape Plan. It is all about how much fun you can have watching Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger team up in a big budget prison movie. If you are fans of them, you are the most likely to be entertained by the film. Luckily enough for me Sylvester Stallone is arguably my favourite action hero and I'm a good fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger too so it sounded ideal for me. The resulting film ended up being ok, not great but not bad.

Visually, Escape Plan is fairly good. While its visual effects aren't perfect and they don't exactly make the atmosphere of a prison in the middle of the ocean seem all that realistic whatsoever, the production design of the film is great in achieving the design of a complex prison system. While from an exterior perspective Escape Plan is not that great, the interior design of the prison itself is convincing. It isn't as versatile as you might hope and the actual design of the prison is a bit familiar regardless of the fact that it has such a new setting to it. Although it is a mix of Under Siege and Lock Up, Escape Plan has a convincing look when it is inside the prison yet up on the exterior boat it feels rather artificial. I was able to look past this all and enjoy the film, but the fact is that considering Escape Plan has a large sum of $50 million as a budget, it should put more of that into crating visual effects which are more detailed and realistic. As that is not the case, the visual experience of Escape Plan is flawed in parts. But the close up scenes are great because the scenery is very dank and convincing, and despite the fact that everything looks dark, it is easy to see what is happening in the shadows. The cinematography is good, and things are edited well against a generic but nevertheless intense soundtrack, and the execution of the action scenes is great. Escape Plan does not have as much action as one might hope, but there was more than I expected and it did prove to entertain me due to the quick nature of them as well as the fact that they were easy to comprehend. So Escape Plan is mostly a mixed quality film which is all reliant on a fairly thin plot and puts essentially all of its focus behind a prison break without giving it the most clever writing to detail the actual break itself or sufficient twists along the way. It mostly looks good and that is the essential element to the film, and the script is fine, so the role of Mikael Hafstrom as director manages to do the job well enough.

And the cast's appeal manages to increase the value of Escape Plan.

Sylvester Stallone's lead performance in Escape Plan is perfect. The man is an emotionless hulk in the role and can express nothing but anger and rage, and it is befitting for the role because he projects a lot of confidence in the part. He stands up as the lead and does so with the muscles and tough guy persona which has made him a popular action hero over the years, and he delivers his lines with a firm grip on them. Sylvester Stallone delivers no surprises with Escape Plan, he simply does what viewers can expect from him and he does it damn well. Sylvester Stallone injects his stereotypical tough guy archetype into his leading role as Ray Breslin which should please his fans well enough, and he turns in another powerful if routine performance which was a good element in Escape Plan.

Arnold Schwarzeegger does his part well enough too. Although his role is thin and does not have him turning in many of the one-liners that make him a seriously awesome and occasionally hilarious action hero, his general presence in Escape Plan is great. Although the role demands nothing from him but his natural ability at heroism he supplies it well enough. His screen time is really not that much, but still he stands up well enough and delivers his lines with natural tough guy strength which makes him fit for the part.

Although the scenes featuring both Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger are not that exciting, they have a certain extent of entertainment value. The moment at the end of the film where Sylvester Stallone says "boom" and Arnold Schwarzenegger says "Have a lovely day. Asshole." is a perfect step back to the fun of cheesy action films circa 1980's when the careers of these two actors were blooming.

Jim Caviezel's supporting performance is a rather cheap one. I mean he manages to fit the profile of being a villain by having an intense stare, but he delivers his lines in a truly monotonous way. It isn't that strong or intimidating whatsoever, and it just seems very wooden. I'm a large fan of Jim Caviezel, but Escape Plan really did not boast any of his best talents or show that he was all that good in the role of a villain, so it features one of his much lesser performances.

So Escape Plan boasts the entertainment value of featuriong Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger breaking out of a big prison and killing everyone in the process, and if that is not enough to entertain you then the flaws in Escape Plan will get to you. But fans of the film's two lead actors should find themselves mostly satisfied.