NO ESCAPE: JUST RUN!

The best thing about thrillers is that we get to experience something without having to actually live it. The bad thing is that in doing so there are moments when you can get so frustrated with the action taking place on screen that you find yourself yelling out loud. A friend of mine actually did this in a theater once while we watched HALLOWEEN. I found myself doing it while watching NO ESCAPE this week. If you missed it in the theaters this thriller kicks off fast and never lets up until the very end. It establishes the story early on and rather quickly before shooting off full blast into the action.

Owen Wilson is Jack Dwyer, a down on his luck engineer who has taken a job with a mega-company and is moving his family to a small Southeast Asian country (it’s never identified what country). With his wife Annie (Lake Bell) and two daughters Lucy (Sterling Jerins) and Beeze (Claire Geare) in tow there plane ride is uneventful and they make a friend in another passenger named Hammond (Pierce Brosnan). After arriving he helps them with a ride to their hotel and parts ways with them.

After little sleep Jack heads out to buy a newspaper. While out and about, he finds himself in the midst of a coupe taking place in the country (which we saw begin in a short prequel of events as the film opened). Heading back to the hotel and his family, Jack watches as Americans are caught and slaughtered in the streets outside. He eventually finds a way in and heads up to his room. Along the way he runs into Hammond who helps him and then tells him to get the family to the roof.

Jack gets back only to discover Lucy is in the pool. After rounding her up the family heads for the roof. And here is where as viewers we become the most frustrated and excited. The two girls (who appear to be about 8 and 10) seem to be the most uncooperative children one could find in a movie. Running from bad guys shooting at the family, Beeze drops her teddy bear and screams to go back for it. Not long after that Lucy refuses to listen to her father in a tense situation as he tries to save the family that nearly results in both of them dying. The movie has several of these moments and all will increase your blood pressure.

As the film progresses the family moves from one danger to another. In a country where they know no one, never met anyone from the company Jack was hired by yet and where the rebels now in charge view them as invaders trying to take over their land the odds of their getting out alive seem sparse. A few decent people help them now and then as they continue to try and stay one step ahead of the rebels and another chance run in with Hammond and his sidekick Kenny (Sahajak Boonthanakit) gives them the only respite they find in their quest to escape. The rest of the film is one that keeps you on the edge of your seat with your fingers working into the arm rest of your chair.

But is it a good movie? Well honestly yes, it is. All of the action promised in the trailer before the movie came out is there on the screen. The most played over sequence involving leaping from one building to another happens early on so it isn’t a case of showing the ending to viewers before they even began watching the movie. The depth of story is pretty shallow but then that’s not the point of the movie. The point is a family on the run trying to stay alive. It does that story remarkably well.

While inept actors could have made this unwatchable the cast here does a good job while no one stands out above the rest. In their hands the characters are believable and that makes us as viewers comfortable with their performances and more caring about their predicament. At some point you’re bound to toss your hands up in the air over those kids but the fact that as young actresses they can make you feel that is a credit to their performances.

In the end this movie is one that is worth renting and for action fans one worth adding to your collection. It delivers the goods in spades. The only people who might not want to watch? Anyone with a heart condition or extremely high blood pressure. This movie is good enough at what it attempts to do that it will only make you explode.

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