On the Edge of Emotions – No Escape Film Review

<p>Directed by&colon; John Erick Dowdle<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Starring&colon; Owen Wilson&comma; Lake Bell &amp&semi; Pierce Brosnan<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Genre&colon; Action&comma; Thriller<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Strapline &&num;8220&semi;Survive together or die together&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wsite-content-title">In a Nutshell&colon;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph"><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">Freshly installed in their new overseas home in Southeast Asia&comma; the Dwyer family find themselves caught in the middle of a coup&period; Soon realizing their lives are in danger&comma; they frantically look for a safe escape in an environment where foreigners are being immediately targeted&period;<&sol;span><&sol;div>&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"paragraph">My Thoughts&colon;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph">&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">An <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;the-turkey-of-the-summer-fantastic-four-movie-review&sol;">awful August<&sol;a> of movies is finally behind us and the summer season resembles a camp fire the morning after&period; Just squeezing through the door before August&&num;8217&semi;s movie lineup shuts up shop is Owen Wilson&&num;8217&semi;s <em>No Escape&period;<&sol;em><&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;"><em>No Escape <&sol;em>is a very enjoyable tense action thriller&comma; that is as unrelenting as it is unflinching&period; The movie<&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;"> sees Wilson break new ground in the action-thriller genre&period; <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">With the sole exception of 2001&&num;8217&semi;s <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">action&sol;war drama&comma; <em>Behind Enemy Lines&comma; <&sol;em>serious action or drama movies have not been the forte of the 47-year-old with the famous Southern drawl&period; A<&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">ction movies of his have been classed as comedies like 2000&&num;8217&semi;s <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;"><em>Shanghai Noon&comma;<&sol;em><em> Shanghai Knights&comma; <&sol;em>and<em> Starsky &amp&semi; Hutch&period;<&sol;em><&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">This time he plays it straight but his sheer number of comedic roles has left his talent for straight drama a little wanting as he gives a relatively impassive performance&period; Although conveying a suitable level of&comma; &&num;8220&semi;Oh my god what is happening to me and my family&comma;&&num;8221&semi; in the most extreme moments of pressure and distress he just wasn&&num;8217&semi;t able to give the performance that was called for with this character&period; In all honesty&comma; he is upstaged by<&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;"> Lake Bell who plays his on-screen wife Annie&period; She steals the show and gives a very convincing but natural performance of a mom and wife who has literally been thrown into the jaws of hell as she desperately tries to help protect her precious daughters&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph">&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;91813" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-91813" style&equals;"width&colon; 604px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04173510&sol;no-escape-pic-2&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-91813" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04173510&sol;no-escape-pic-2&period;jpg" alt&equals;"No Escape&sol; Weinstein Company " width&equals;"604" height&equals;"340" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-91813" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">No Escape&sol; Weinstein Company<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph"><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph">As for Pierce Brosnan&comma; ever since his last turn as James Bond in the huge misfire that was <em>Die Another Day<&sol;em>&comma; his status as an action star has been on the wane with duds like <em>After the Sunset <&sol;em>and more recently last year&&num;8217&semi;s <em>The November Man <&sol;em>and this year&&num;8217&semi;s <em>Survivor<&sol;em>&period; If it wasn&&num;8217&semi;t for roles in movies like <em>Mamma Mia <&sol;em>and <em>The Ghost<&sol;em>&comma; Brosnan may well been destined to a direct-to-DVD future&comma; post Bond&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph">&NewLine;<p>Although woefully underused&comma; even bordering on the line of an extended cameo&comma; Brosnan <em>does <&sol;em>show a sharpness about him that has not been seen since his heyday as<em> 007<&sol;em>&period; Therefore one would hope that <em>No<&sol;em><em> Escape <&sol;em>will provide a much needed shot in the arm for the Irish actor&&num;8217&semi;s ailing career&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph"><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">What I liked about the movie was the genuine sense of peril and distress this innocent family were experiencing&period; I was on the edge of my seat at times as their situation just went from bad to worse&period; The tension in the audience at times is palpable&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s no surprise therefore to learn that director Dowdle comes from a background of directing horror movies&comma; as his skills for the most part where used to great effect&period; Having said this there were some nice moments of humor interjected to break the tension at times&period;<&sol;span><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph"><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph">&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;91812" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-91812" style&equals;"width&colon; 1100px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04173522&sol;no-escape-pic3&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-91812" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04173522&sol;no-escape-pic3&period;jpg" alt&equals;"No Escape&sol; Weinstein Company" width&equals;"1100" height&equals;"733" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-91812" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">No Escape&sol; Weinstein Company<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">Despite Wilson&&num;8217&semi;s relatively wooden performance&comma; they <em>were <&sol;em>plausible as a family unit&comma; this was largely due to Bell&&num;8217&semi;s effort&comma; which I have previously touched on&period; As a result I really felt for them and their utterly nightmarish existence&period; Going one step further&comma; as a father of children roughly the same age as the girls in the movie it brought it home to me how completely horrific something like this would affect young children&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;"><em>No Escape <&sol;em>also wastes no time with a 105 minute runtime of unnecessarily introducing a backstory to this family&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s very simple&comma; they arrive to start a new life in a new country and within 24 hours they&&num;8217&semi;re in hell&period; No backstory needed&period; Also touching on backstory&comma; the villain in this movie is very effective&period; He says virtually nothing&comma; and what he does say is not in English&period; However he is very predatory and unforgiving in his pursuit of his prey&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">From a visual standpoint the movie is well shot with a good mix of tighter &&num;8220&semi;chase&&num;8221&semi; camera angles as you would expect in this type of movie but also wider shots&comma; the score is neither here nor there&period; I walked out not even being able to remember the music&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">Issues with the movie other than Wilson&&num;8217&semi;s performance and the under utilization of Brosnan&comma; would be the link between the villain&&num;8217&semi;s main motive and family &lpar;No spoilers&excl;&rpar; and finally there are a few times where the Dwyer&&num;8217&semi;s family&&num;8217&semi;s chances of escaping where a little too far flung &lpar;and if you&&num;8217&semi;ve seen the movie&comma; then you know what I&&num;8217&semi;m referencing&rpar;&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph"><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"paragraph"><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; medium&semi;">I thoroughly enjoyed <em>No Escape&period; <&sol;em>Watching this movie after what has seemed an endless August of horrendous movies&comma; it was finally nice to be engaged once again&period; There is a very real feeling of tension and terror for this innocent family caught up in a conflict not of their making&period; Lake Bell steals the show as the family&&num;8217&semi;s Mom and Brosnan for the brief time he is on screen gives us shades of the Brosnan of old&period; The movie is let down though with an fairly bland central turn from Wilson and some situational set pieces that stretched the imagination&period;<&sol;span><&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;