Review of No Escape (2015) by Jake H — 30 Aug 2015

After another long ass leave of absence, I am back with a review of a movie that mostly deals with Owen Wilson running away from a homicidal mob of really angry Asian folks. If there's any time for Lightning McQueen to be fast, now's that time.

By the way I'm summing things up, you'd think that I didn't really take this film too seriously. While there are a few moments that are more than a tad batshit crazy, No Escape is some surprisingly intense stuff. The story is very simple and straightforward. A businessman takes his family across the pond to start a new life in some unspecified corner of Asia. The timing of said trip is extremely bad however, for mere hours after they've settled in their new home, the nation is plunged into the fires of a violent political uprising, with all those partaking hellbent on slaughtering all foreign nationals. With a revolution in full swing, the family must find a way to escape the country.

First things first, let's talk about the performances. When I first saw trailers for this movie, I was surprised to see Owen Wilson taking on a dramatic role. The guy is typically known for funny stuff, and his last serious role was apparently in 2001's Behind Enemy Lines. With this knowledge in mind, I was honestly quite impressed with how he did in this film. While I can't say his character is all that deep, he made me feel for him. The guy has range, and it was great to see his talent at work on screen. Hands down, the best character in this whole fiasco goes to Pierce Brosnan. That's right, James freakin' Bond (former) is along for the ride and man does he kick ass in this movie. Brosnan nails the role with humour, charisma, and shit tons of badassery as the British agent caught up in the middle of the action.

Right well, now that we have that out of the way, I feel the need to talk about something I think this film absolutely nailed: The sound design. Without a doubt, this is the best sounding film I've seen/heard all year. The ominous echoing of chanting rioters, the cracking of gunfire and bullets as they fly through the air, and the wailing of emergency sirens all add to the atmosphere of dread and intensity that the film absolutely nails.

But like I said, this film is absolutely batshit crazy in more than a few times. Whilst you have scenes that are very dramatic and tough to watch due to their terrible subject manner, there was one scene that was well advertised in the trailers that pretty much has Owen Wilson throwing his children from one rooftop to another to reach safety. The movie wanted me to take this seriously, but it's so fuckin' over-the-top that it was hard not to giggle at the scene in its entirety. I distinctly remember the majority of the audience laughing during said scene. On another note, does anyone not get really fuckin' annoyed at the naivety of the child characters in these sorts of movies? Like, these two girls were some pretty decent actors, but for the love of god, just listen to Owen Wilson and let him hurl you off the roof. Do you wanna get hacked up by a machete you lil' shit? Anyways, in regards to those things, there's also a few parts where the mood shifts quite substantially. Like, we're talking night and day differences in mood here. Like, a woman was about to get raped a second ago, and now I'm giggling. Granted seeing Brosnan and his companion mop the floor with bad guys is enough to do the trick.

Anyways, No Escape is a pretty darn entertaining watch. The characters may not be the deepest, and some parts are so over the top they tarnish the overall mood of the film, there's enough good performances and intense action sequences to make it a very fun watch. Go check it out!