Escape Plan - Review

Director: Mikael Håfström Writers: Miles Chapman, Jason Keller Studios: Summit Entertainment, Lionsgate, Atmosphere Entertainment, Emmett/Furla Films Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Amy Ryan, Vinnie Jones, Sam Neill, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson Release Date (UK): 18 October 2013 Certificate: 15 Runtime: 115 min

Sly and Arnie go to prison in “Escape Plan,” a jailhouse thriller which tries to recapture the look and feel of an old-school ’80s actioner with enjoyable, if unsurprising results. Stallone, on typically grizzled form, plays Ray Breslin, a security specialist who claims he can break out of any prison designed by man. Working for the government, it is his job to test out the reliability of maximum security facilities — that is, he enters the joint as an inmate, finds its weak spot and escapes with the aid of such handy tools as sheets of toilet paper, plastic forks and cartons of chocolate milk. Impossibly resourceful, he’s basically MacGyver, Houdini and Rambo all rolled up into one big beefy ball.

But even with those impressive credentials, his latest assignment proves one tough nut to crack: tasked with testing out a top secret, off-the-grid facility, he finds himself locked up in The Tomb, an inescapable, high-tech fortress run by the tyrannical warden Willard Hobbs (Jim Caviezel). There, he meets Schwarzenegger’s enigmatic Emil Rottmayer, a fellow inmate with whom Ray plans a massive break-out when his safe word, i.e. his Get Out of Jail Free card, is ignored by the warden — but escape isn’t going to be so easy this time round.

Highlights of “Escape Plan” include Schwarzenegger frantically screaming the Lord’s Prayer in his native German tongue (the first time Arnie has sprechen Deutsch on the big screen) and the multiple trips to the dreaded Box, a cramped torture chamber in which convicts sit and sweat while blinded by a blazing light. The plot is preposterous and the script could’ve been sharper (the most memorable line is Schwarzenegger’s rather tame “You hit like a vegetarian!”), but take it on its own terms and the film works as diverting, undemanding popcorn entertainment. Old dogs Sly and Arnie, back to their old tricks, prove a highly watchable double act and a formidable action hero team-up — as if we needed further proof, this pair of ageing, 65+ meatheads show themselves to be far from their sell-by date.

Rating: 6/10