ESCAPE PLAN Review

In the early months of 2013 audiences everywhere were overwhelmed with the amount of testosterone-filled action flicks that typically didn't see the light of day until the prime to late summer months, but this was different as each of these were more a solo effort from a band of well-tested performers that did well enough together, but couldn't pass up the temptation of breaking out on their own. Whether it be Arnold Schwarzenegger's fun and entertaining comeback flick The Last Stand, Sylvester Stallone's bleak and dreary Bullet to the Head or even Jason Statham's five-hundredth attempt at playing a hit man in Parker or Bruce Willis taking up the ole McClain name again for another Die Hard go around, the fact of the matter is that none of these performed all too well and left most of us simply yearning for a time when they all re-unite and turn out another Expendables movie (except for you Bruce Willis, you greedy bastard!). Needless to say, this didn't bode well for the other flick Stallone and Schwarzenegger teamed up to make this year; originally titled The Tomb and later changed to Escape Plan. But hey, at least they were pairing up for this one which had to mean some level of excitement would follow, right? While this could most definitely be debated and likely go either way with plenty of support on either side I was personally pretty excited to see what kind of over-the-top antics these guys could get into and put up on screen at their age. And while they may not be the marquee names or box office draws that they used to be on their own, Escape Plan is a more than competent action flick with such an outlandishly intriguing plot and strong sense of pacing that we never get bored, are never taken out of the plot turns and are right in the thick of the conflict with Stallone's Ray Breslin and Schwarzenegger's Emil Rottmayer that we don't care to step back and examine its shortcomings or bother to comment on the acting. Reality is checked at the door and despite the fact this will be one of those films that will play countless times on HBO and eventually FX where it will no doubt be easier to take it for what it is I can't say I didn't enjoy myself to the fullest as I experienced what is the pure definition of unabashed, unadulterated B-movie brilliance.  

First Trailer for ESCAPE PLAN

Once referred to as The Tomb, the first trailer has arrived for the latest collaboration between action juggernauts Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Now titled Escape Plan, the story is one of Stallone's character being the foremost authority on prison security who is backhanded into a prison of his own design where he makes friends with Schwarzenegger's Swan (yes, his name in this movie is Swan) and they naturally create a plan to break out and be seriously bad ass in the process. It seems, at least from the trailer, that both stars are plenty aware of their current public personas and somewhat have a sly way of letting us know they're smarter than this material, but they know this is the type of movie we like to see them make. Still, the enthusiasm for this team-up might be somewhat waning as Expendables 2 didn't fare as well as expected last summer and both of these guys solo January/February efforts were rather solid duds. That isn't to say the style and genre in which those films were made (as throwbacks to the kinds of films that made them household names in the first place) was the wrong place to go, but there was nothing there for anyone to get too excited about. Here, there looks to at least be somewhat of an engaging premise that goes past simply blowing things up and finding the bad guy. There is a mind game aspect to the whole thing that require brains and brawn and not just the latter. It isn't always bad to have some brainless fun and the "Expendable" series provides that is spades, so there needs to be some type of different flavor mixed in with these other projects. Escape Plan will of course have plenty of action going for it as well, but I'm comforted by the presence of a strong supporting cast that includes Jim Caviezel, Vinnie Jones, Vincent D’Onofrio, Sam Neill, Amy Ryan and hey, even Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson seems to be well-handled here. Escape Plan also opens in the doldrums between the summer and Oscar seasons on September 27th which should help it find a bigger audience longing to have just a few more of those long, hot days back.