Review of No Escape (2015) by Edgar S — 26 Aug 2015

No Escape is an action thriller that knows how to raise the stakes on the situations and increase the intensity but the film does slow down to catch a breath and it does so with a dull script. The plot is about an American family: Jack (Owen Wilson), his wife Annie (Lake Bell) and their two daughters relocate in the Philippines. Not for long, all chaos breaks loose when a riot from the country breaks out, killing any foreigners. It is a race against time; Jack is going to be pushed to the limit on what he is willing to do to get his family out of the country.

Director John Erick Dowdle knows how to make the film and the audience feel a little unease. From the beginning of the movie, when an assassination on the prime minister is attempted or when Jack is roaming around the city when the riots begin. The action intensity does build up, and when it does it lets up. A direction of a family that is going to be pushed to the limits and close to their breaking point on what they will do to survive. Owen Wilson did well handling his character in this action film. Lake Bell was also decent as well. Pierce Brosnan is looking aged, but he shows he can still perform in action thriller. The movie does have some faults, the script John Ewick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle does slow down after every intense action scene, either for the audience to catch a breath or adding a little traumatic family drama in the mix. It also adds the problem of being slightly dull for a family drama, and it only gets better when a next action set piece is shown. It goes from a family on the run to a break in hiding to them running and avoiding explosions and shootouts to another hideout session. The repetitiveness of that pattern does get annoying, even when the script was not strong enough to hold the drama together. Pierce Brosnanâ(TM)s character Hammond plays the typical clichà (C) for the plot. A family entering different territory in the country, Hammond works for the British agency and gives them a detour of his connections. When the riots begin, Hammond becomes their saving grace and aiding them in getting out of the country.

No Escape is a fair action film, the action set pieces and intense thrills works well in the movie, but it struggles in trying to keep your attention when it comes to the family drama.