Escape Plan

I did not expect that I'd like two over-the-hill action stars trying their hand at yet another action movie. Surprisingly, I liked it.

Sylvester Stallone played Ray Breslin, a guy who professionally breaks out of prisons to show their weaknesses to the prison officials. It's a heckuva way to earn a living, but it was lucrative. I certainly couldn't do it. He's still in prison at the end of the day.

He accepted a deal to attempt to break out of a new international prison that was off the grid and off-record. This was a prison that would be used to house the world's worst criminals. The federal government offered him $5M to attempt to break out of this prison. Unlike all the other prisons, Breslin and his team-- Abigail (Amy Ryan), Hush (50 Cent), and Lester Clark (Vincent D'Onofrio)-- didn't know where this prison was. In fact, they had next to no information about it. That wasn't a deal breaker because Breslin still had an extraction code and he was chipped for locating. Well, they removed his chip when they rounded him up, and his extraction code was useless in the prison.

He met a man named Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in the prison right away. Rottmayer curiously gravitated to Breslin which is something that doesn't easily happen behind bars. It would be the two of them versus the warden, Hobbes (Jim Caviezel), from then on out. They would need each other, a lot of cunning, and a lot of luck to escape the state-of-the-art escape-proof prison.

If there was one thing that I didn't really care for was Breslin's all-encompassing knowledge. He admitted that he was a lawyer before which takes a fair amount of knowledge and practice, but where did he learn astronomy, nautics, ship controls, ship layouts, metallurgy, morse code, and a lot of other things. He had the knowledge of ten guys plus physical fitness. I only forgave this exaggerated resume because I liked the movie. It was technical, it appealed to one's belief in justice and fairness, it was heist-movie like in the scheming, and there was just enough action. Oh yeah, it was pretty funny too. Arnie was gifted some good lines.

To be honest, if I didn't like Sly and Arnie, two guys who were THE action stars of my youth, I don't think I would've liked this movie as much. They had just enough clout to pull it off even though they were very much past their prime.

HBO Max.

Having grown up with the action movies of Stallone and Schwarzenegger, to name but a few, during my childhood and youth, then it is always refreshing to see these iconic action stars on the screen.

Initially, I had some reservations about "Escape Plan", especially since this is the third prison movie of Stallone's, and the synopsis for this movie didn't really promise something great.

But I am glad that I saw it, because "Escape Plan" delivered the goods. This is a great action/thriller in every sense, and if you grew up with Stallone and Schwarzenegger's movies, then you definitely do not want to miss out on this one.

The storyline, shortly summarized, is about Ray Breslin (played by Stallone) who goes undercover in secure prison facilities in order to test their security measures and prove that they are indeed not inescapable. Taking on a new job, Breslin finds himself in over his head in a very strange facility, where he has to team up with Rottmayer (played by Schwarzenegger) if he is to break free of captivity.

The action sequences are great, as they always are with these guys. But what also made the movie so great, was the plot line and the revealing of what was really going on with the prison facility. That was a twist of events that I found really good.

There are some great names to the cast list, aside from Stallone and Schwarzenegger, such as Sam Neill, Vinnie Jones and Vincent D'Onofrio. Personally I can't claim to find any enjoyment in hip hop star 50 cents as an actor, and he is not one I would put my money on. But luckily his role is a minor one.

"Escape Plan" is definitely a man's movie, full of action, testosterone (although not up to par with "Expendables), and an interesting and well executed storyline. The movie is definitely well worth a watch if you enjoy action and thrillers.

Old school action thriller with some old school stars (finally) teaming up to break out of prison. This movie is also pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger pairing except maybe fewer one liners and a decent script.

The story follows Sly as an incarcerated security expert (he literally wrote the book on prison security) whose last job sees him being sent to "The Tomb" a master prison based on of his own design but he's also been set up, imprisoned and disappeared for real. Now with the help of fellow inmate Emil (Arnie) Rottmayer, he must devise a daring, nearly impossible plan to escape as well as eluding the evil warden and his sadistic lead guard.

I enjoyed this movie for what it was, although more serious than I expected, I liked the look of the super prison -unique in that respect and I was very surprised by the ___location of it, didn't see that coming at all. A good story, a few twists, decent supporting cast in bad guy (done so well) Jim Caviezel, evil guard Vinnie Jones and brow beaten prison doctor Sam Neil. Decent action scenes from guys who can't run anymore, Arnie can still fire a machine gun like no one else though. Sly does some tricky water stunts and some hand to hand fight scenes, he gets pretty beat up and tortured here.

On that note I'm a huge Sly fan but as well as looking old here he also looks perpetually tired, like he's just about had enough of doing action movies. Arnie on the other hand was hilarious without even trying. I mean who else can make you laugh as they get water boarded? It was also great to hear him speaking German even it was mostly enraged swearing. 1/12/16

The terminator and Rambo in the same movie, in the 80s or even the 90s this would have been the event of the year...but then Sly didn't look like his veins where going to explode and Shwarzie had less floppy skin. But we digress. Sly plays an expert who professionally escapes prisons to test their security. He gets set-up and end's up in an experimental shadow prison from which he and Shwarzie have to escape. The film reminded me a bit of (and borrows elements from) Fortress and THX-1138. Contrary to The Expendables the film has a descent plot and is well made. The VFX are good and never look fake, so generally speaking a fine production. I expected little so I was positively surprised to see that it could deliver 2 hours of solid entertainment. It was never going to be as good as T2 or Cliffhanger but it's a pity it just flopped at the box office. I hope many people give it a second chance on DVD or BD as it is certainly worth the watch.

No doubt that movie is entertaining, 8/10, fast, no slow time. Humour, jokes, a few reference to older movie. This movie is with both main actor, not a Sly movie with a cameo of Arnold, its both of them all the time. It's good and funny. The plot is intelligent, I liked it. It's not a remake of any kind, of course you know the end or you can predict some of the turnouts. But, overall it is fun and intelligent. The ending is rushed a bit, turns out like a bit of a sort of "Expendable" style of movie, but not as much. No sex, or any kind of romance in that movie, or super chicks making you want to jump at the screen, it's a typical American movie, blood, guns & some violence, but no chick.