Review of Escape Plan (2013) by Lane Z — 27 May 2014

Good old (and I think it's OK to classify these behemoth stars as such now) fashioned Sly and Arnold. Now here are two guys you can consistently rely on for B-grade quality action thrillers with just enough pulp to raise it above the average line on an occasion or two. The Expendables is a good example of this, but Escape Plan doesn't quite go farther than average. I like the idea based around breaking out of prisons. It's almost a reverse Ocean's 11 but with significantly fewer stars and screen time.

Jim Caviezel is pretty interesting as the bad prison warden and actually pulls it off quite nicely with just enough hard qualities to balance his youth for someone running such a facility. However, the whole point is to see Sly work his magic and Arnold assist in as many ways possible for near 120 minutes of can he or can't he. Perhaps this script was written for two guys a bit younger than who we have, but it works all the way to the end with a decent twist that won't make you go "ah-ha", but it'll make you go "seems about right.".