Escape Plan

Rating : 5/10
Release Date : 18th October, 2013
Time : 116 minutes
Director : Mikael Hafstrom; Writer: Miles Chapman, Jason Keller; Music : Alex Heffes
Starring : Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarznegger, Jim Caviezel, Vinnie Jones, Faran Tahir, Sam Neill, Vincent D’Onofrio, Amy Ryan, 50 Cent, Caitriona Balfe

This works to the extent it does simply because of the personalities of the two leading men…and a little twist at the end that made a lot of sense…else, it’s a pretty average plot, lots of conversation, very little to show as far as any real ‘action’ goes and a pretty standard prison escape flick, albeit from a prison that is pretty high tech.

Stallone breaks out of prisons for a living, is somewhat of a legend when it comes to defining security protocols. Hence when the CIA wants to test an escape-proof facility for the scum of the Earth, who better to check it out than Sly ? The rest is standard stuff – the prisoner who knows his way around (Arnie), the evil ‘I own your ass’ warden (Caviezel), the sadistic prison guard (Vinnie Jones) and another prisoner, who heads the Muslim inmates (Faran Tahir). A doctor (Sam Neill) and Stallone’s back up team (50 Cent, Amy Ryan, D’Onofrio) have other interesting roles, along with Caitriona, who plays the CIA spook.

Prison movies rarely have a chance to show much humour. Add to that some of the sadism / torture scenes, necessary to establish the evil characters, the dimly lit corridors, cells and interior sequences, and the overall tone of the movie can be quite down. You do, however, want Arnie and Sly to break out, even if for old times sake, and so are reasonably engrossed in the ‘how’ for most parts. Its an average film, lit up only by the sheer heavyweight presence of its two macho, brawny stars, who still strut their stuff convincingly despite being in their sunset years…