Escape Plan

Though it boasts the dream pairing of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Escape Plan, for the most part, never quite becomes the fun, escapist action picture one might’ve anticipated – as the narrative, which follows Stallone’s Ray and Schwarzenegger’s Emil as they attempt to break out of a high-tech prison, suffers from a depressingly sluggish midsection that proves disastrous. The film does, however, fare surprisingly well in its opening stretch, as filmmaker Mikael Håfström, working from Miles Chapman and Arnell Jesko’s screenplay, kicks off the proceedings with an exciting jail-break sequence that seems to lay the groundwork for an exciting (and unapologetically ludicrous) thriller. And although there’s plenty of promise in Ray’s initial arrival at that aforementioned prison – Jim Caviezel’s scenery-chewing turn as the comically evil warden is a highlight, to be sure – Escape Plan segues into a second act that is, for the most part, devoid of compelling segments and is hopelessly by-the-numbers in its execution. The movie’s less-than-engrossing feel is compounded by the inclusion of padded-out and entirely needless subplots, with, for example, the continued emphasis on Ray’s dealings with a reluctantly helpful physician (Sam Neill’s Dr. Kyrie) ranking high on Escape Plan‘s list of superfluous elements. Just as the viewer is ready to write the film off as a well-intentioned failure, however, Håfström offers up a genuinely exciting finale that’s as fast-paced, over-the-top, and flat-out fun as everything preceding it should have been – which ultimately does cement the movie’s place as a disappointing yet sporadically engrossing throwback to the violent actioners of the ’80s and ’90s.

**1/2 out of ****