It's the latest team up of old-school action stars, and here we have one partnership that's been a long time coming! The Terminator and the Italian Stallion together at last, that is, when they're not being Expendable. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone star together in Escape Plan, with Stallone as Ray Breslin, a security professional who specializes in testing prisons first hand -- by breaking out of them himself. Taking a CIA job offer that puts him in a prototype, state-of-the-art maximum security prison, Breslin soon realizes that the job is a ruse, and someone wants him there permanently. Befriended by fellow inmate Emil Rottmayer (Schwarzenegger), the two take it upon themselves to break free from their unknown prison, by any means necessary. Escape Plan is something of a novelty, and while it's concept and actors are up to the task, Escape Plan feels more a mediocre afterthought than a proper team-up.
Escape Plan actually starts out promising enough. The opening scene with Breslin in the prison is exciting, and cool to see how it plays out in an un-lengthy manner. There's obviously some suspension of disbelief involved; a few methods are incredibly outlandish, but it's interesting and neat nonetheless. This feeling carries throughout the movie, and it does add to certain suspenseful and timely scenes. When Breslin lands in the maximum security prison after the opening, the pace continues well, with the film allowing some nuance as Breslin analyzes and struggles with what is supposedly the perfect prison. It's here he meets Rottmayer, and where we get to see Schwarzenegger and Stallone converse and plan. Stallone is...well he's Stallone, so if you're familiar with his movies, you know what to expect from him. The same goes for Schwarzenegger. I did, however, find that both of them had a decidedly more subtle and underscored performance, which was cool at first...but I found it didn't really change as the movie went on, and the novelty of seeing both Stallone and Schwarzenegger together began to wore off. There's a lack of notable dialogue between them, and while both have some good scenes on their own, together it's lacking. The one fight scene between them showed promise, but barely lasted a short time. Besides those two, the other characters are split between inside and outside the prison. Breslin's team consists of Abigail Ross and Hush, Amy Ryan and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson respectively, trying to find his whereabouts, with the Warden, his right-hand man, and Dr. Kyrie working in the prison. The performances on both ends range from good to average, with the action and sub-plot involving Breslin's team feeling rather tacked-on, only offering a not-really-needed breather from events in the prison. The Warden, Willard Hobbes (played by Jim Caviezel), is sly, brooding, and ruthless, and Caviezel's performance is admirable at first, but ends up feeling mediocre and unsubstantial. Sam Neill of Jurassic Park fame plays Dr. Kyrie, a kind of strange role that has him tired of the daily prisoner interaction, and sympathetic to Breslin's plea. Unfortunately, his character is not very well developed, and his story isn't resolved in the slightest. Kind of a funny side note: there's a scene where Breslin and Rottmayer are surveying and analyzing a few armoured guards around their area, and they give them descriptive names like "chicken-man" and the like. These faceless guards are given just about as much characterization as some of the supporting characters.
The context for what goes on during the middle of the movie inside the prison makes sense, and includes the previously mentioned rather good individual scenes with Breslin and Rottmayer, but there's a lot of unnecessary info passed around other characters that either doesn't amount to anything in the prison, or is used too sparsely outside involving Breslin's team. The build-up, or rather, escape plan, does have it's cool moments though, despite being a little too long overall. Tension and close-calls help make these parts more exciting, and the lengths at which the pair will go to in order to get the slightest bits of info is equally notable. The film's climax is pretty decent too, all thing considered. There's a pretty big "HELL YEAH" moment involving Schwarzenegger, and a very 80's-esque explosive finale, but, sadly little more than that. Even so, the ending wraps up nicely, and doesn't linger longer than it should.
But by the end, Escape Plan feels like something of a missed opportunity. It's a pretty harmless movie, and it has elements of that 80's style that Stallone and Schwarzenegger are known for, but there's a lack of anything that truly stands out. It's a good concept, and there's some cool and tense scenes, but Escape Plan feels lacking in many respects. So while it is indeed neat to see Stallone and Schwarzenegger together, I think I'd stick to The Expendables.
YAY
- Respectable performances from Stallone and Schwarzenegger, with some really good individual scenes.
- Cool concept that stays relevant and somewhat interesting.
- Actually decently paced early on.
- No particularly bad acting from the supporting cast.
- Cool seeing Stallone and Schwarzenegger together, but...
NAY
- ...the novelty eventually wears off.
- Lack of stand-out action.
- Suffers from predictable twists.
- Drawn-out, with some entirely unnecessary moments.
- A lot of missed potential.
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