Escape Plan (2013)

 

On paper, this would be the ultimate teamup of two legends of the action genre. Come on: Stallone ànd Schwarzenegger in one movie? Sure, there was 'The Expendables', but here they would pretty much be truly teamed up the entire time. What's not to love?

Well, a movie that is a bit underwhelming in the end, but we'll get to that in a minute.

Stallone is Ray Breslin, someone who specializes in prisons and to be more precise: checking said prisons if they are truly escape proof. He lets himself get incarcerated in the best prepared and designed places, only to be able to point out the flaws by in fact escaping, thus ensuring security will become as tight as possible. 

One day, a CIA operative approaches Ray with the proposition to do what he does best to their latest supermax security facility, which is of course so secret, no one knows where or what it is. Ray accepts the challenge, but soon finds he may have bitten off more than he can chew, as this prison is in fact built around his ideas that he outlined in a book.

Be the best there is, get your insights used against you.

Naturally, the prison is run by a hardass warden with a penchant for psychotic breaks and preparing butterflies. This was a little too clichéd and Jim Caviezel doesn't get much to work with besides being a total creepy arsehat the whole time.

Breslin is sort of approached by Rottmayer (Schwarzenegger) who is one of the 'old dogs' there, but of course he has a story that runs a lot deeper than first glances might give away. 

For those who have been paying attention, the eventual 'twist' isn't that hard to spot, but nice try, movie. 

Then it becomes an adventure where our two leads attempt a daring escape from this super supermax prison. Or should that be supermax max prison? 

Cool idea in concept, execution is a bit lacking, though. There's nothing wrong with seeing Stallone and Schwarzenegger work off one another and their moments are in fact the highlight of this project, but everything else feels a little bland. The bad guys are ridiculously stock, even if they are played by competent actors and the almost cameo-like appearance by Sam Neill is incredibly superfluous, as his part could have literally been played by anyone else. 

So it's a fun timewaster, but nothing special. Fans of our 80s legends will probably find this more enjoyable than most.