The Super Network

Let me be quite frank, I have waited all my movie loving life to see two of my favourite men of action Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger star along side each other in an action film. Yes they were both in two EXPENDABLES films, but one was the star and the other a glorified cameo. Here they are equals, both starring and spending lots of time together, ESCAPE PLAN is the film I have been hoping for. But after all this time, with the men well in their 60’s, does it live up to over 20 years of internal hype? Oh boy oh boy! Yes, yes it does!!

Ray Breslin (Stallone) is a man who works for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, breaking out of high security prisons to test their security. When he gets taken (abducted) to a prison that is off the grid and highly illegal, Ray finds himself in the ultimate bad position, this prison appears to be one that can’t be escaped. He doesn’t know why he’s there, since it clearly wasn’t a job offer, and the Warden (Jim Caviezel) isn’t offering up anything. Ray finds hope when he befriends a fellow inmate Rottmayer (Schwarzenegger) who actually wants to help get out. Will they find a way out of this hell hole? Oh for goodness sake, you must watch!

This isn’t a complicated film, and with action sometimes that is what you need, simplicity. I don’t need a complex plot to enjoy a film, and with action if you get down the basics quick then you can really launch into the good stuff. That is exactly what they did here, within 20 minutes everything was explained and we are taken into the main plot. Ray isn’t a complex character, but he’s passionate about his job and he does it well. He’s a very easy character to get behind and to want to see escape this predicament. Rottmayer as well feels like a good person, and he’s definitely very fun to be around. The bad guys with the Warden and his head henchman played by Vinnie Jones are two guys you want to see get it, they play bad with ease and it’s also pretty fun.

The action is very solid, as solid as it can be set in a prison, but there’s lots of fighting and all sorts of things happening to keep us hardcore fans entertained. It isn’t too over the top, and I liked that, it was shot well so you could see what was happening, and I appreciated that a lot. The location is a pretty interesting one and I think they used it to their advantage, with the limited space of a prison. They had the solitary rooms, but they added a twist to it and if you use the clues, you can guess certain things about the prison, which I found rather clever.

These characters are nothing new to Stallone and Schwarzenegger, they have spent a lifetime playing men of action. What was different, is that these two are actually playing their age and as strange as it sounds, they felt grounded with their performances. You get to see those moments from them that made us all fans, there may be an ‘Arnie One-Liner’ in there some where. They do their job well and if they could star together in another five films in the future I would be down.

The supporting cast are good, Caviezel played his Warden differently than what I expected, he was cold, quiet and calculating. Vinnie Jones was a good powerhouse of a man, and I enjoyed what he offered. Vincent D’Onofrio shows up as Breslin’s boss and he was just weird and it reminded me of how much I adore him. Amy Ryan plays a co-worker of Breslin’s along with 50 Cent and I liked them both, I actually wanted to see more especially from Ryan. The biggest surprise for me was seeing Sam Neill in the film, I had no idea he was in this! He needed to be in it more, and he was a good addition.

ESCAPE PLAN is the ultimate ‘Sunday Afternoon In’ film, switch off your worries and watch a fun action film! Heck if my mother who isn’t an action fan can sit and watch it, complain it’s too violent and then ask when Sly and Arnie were going to go all Rambo and Terminator, I think anyone can enjoy this.

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