​FILMS

no escape

2015 review number 142:

No Escape: (Action/Thriller): 78 out of 100: If you would like a thrilling ride where a family unfamiliar with its surroundings must overcome the odds to survive, then you cannot go past this. The tension never lets up and although a few of the scenes are far-fetched, the general theme of survival results in a movie where you root for the family's escape.

 

Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson) moves his family to an unnamed, unstable south-east Asian country. He is an engineer whose company is establishing itself in the region. Unbeknownst to him, the locals are angry with his company as they are affecting the area, both politically and physically. They set out to execute any foreigners who stand in their way. Jack must protect his wife, Annie (Lake Bell) and two young daughters, Lucy (Sterling Jerins) and Beeze (Claire Geare), with the help of a British ex-pat named Hammond (Pierce Brosnan), whom they met on the flight from America.

 

There are a few negatives that prevent this film from being an absolutely brilliant one. You have to ask yourself why Jack wouldn't have done more research on the political climate of a country he has never been to before transplanting his family there. Also, why not name the Asian country for it's obvious that it is Thailand if you are familiar with the language as I am. It was surprising that I could see this in Thailand because it doesn't paint the country in a positive light. The locals are depicted as barbarians who demonstrate little remorse.

 

There's no doubt that tension is sustained throughout the film. From the scenes in the family's hotel to the open streets where executions are taking place, you are on the edge of your seat not knowing how the family will escape. Wilson portrays the dad with conviction. He is a fabulous father in the way he expresses himself through his words and actions to save his family. Bell and the two young children also display the fear that they are experiencing to the point where you believe that everything that happens to them is real. One might consider it psychologically damaging for the young girl to have a gun pointed at her head but she is an actress, so I suspect that she realises that is all in the work of fiction, which she manages to demonstrate superbly. Brosnan is effective as usual in his role as a gun-toting expatriate.

 

Special mention must go to the location shooting. No Escape has been filmed in Chiang Mai in Thailand and this adds to the overall atmosphere to the film. When the family is running frantically around the streets, you sense the unfamiliarity they are encountering.

 

This is an exciting action/thriller with moments of dramatic tension highlighted by Jack's interactions with his children. The suspense is increased by the unfamiliar locations that the family finds itself in. It's a must to escape to No Escape.

 

Starring Owen Wilson, Lake Bell and Pierce Brosnan

(103 minutes)

Parental advice: Violence and coarse language

Additional scene during or after credits: No

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOjj07EuO50 (Movie trailer)

(Reviewed on Wednesday 23rd September, 2015)

 

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