Quicksand: No Escape

Quicksand: No Escape casts Tim Matheson as Scott Reinhardt, a struggling architect who learns that his partner (Timothy Carhart’s Charlie Groves) has paid off a high ranking public official to land a pivotal contract – with Scott’s afternoon going from bad to worse as he encounters a crooked police officer who knows about the bribe and demands $5000 to keep his mouth shut. A struggle ensues and the cop dies; the following morning, Scott is set to turn himself in when he learns that the victim was found with a bullet in his head (which Scott obviously didn’t put there). It’s not long before Scott meets a shady, sleazy man (Donald Sutherland’s Murdoch) who demands a cash payoff to keep quiet about Scott’s (fake) involvement in the premeditated murder, with the movie subsequently detailing Scott’s efforts at coming up with the money and, eventually, his exploits as he performs a series of favors in lieu of paying Murdoch the cash. It’s a familiar premise that’s employed to pervasively middling effect, as the movie moves at a surprisingly deliberate pace and generally unfolds exactly as one might’ve anticipated – with the less-than-engrossing atmosphere compounded by Matheson’s competent yet bland turn as the increasingly harried protagonist. And while Sutherland delivers an entertainingly smarmy performance that stands as an obvious highlight within the proceedings, Quicksand: No Escape is simply (and ultimately) unable to wholeheartedly justify its existence or add anything new to the genre (although, to be fair, the film does conclude on a rather unexpected note).

** out of ****