‘Escape Plan’ features veteran stars Stallone and Schwarzenegger, is a weak attempt to produce an action entertainer against the backdrop of ‘almost-impossible-to-break-out-from’ prisons.
Interestingly, the two main themes in the films– a security expert exposing the flaws by breaking in and out of the systemt and the jailer who is almost like a student of his prisoner but decides to make it difficult for him–are borrowed from two Robert Redford movies.(‘Sneakers’ and ‘The Last Castle’)
Stallone plays a taciturn ‘specialist’, a la Michael Scofield in the hit TV series ‘Prison Break’, and Schwarzenegger is the vocal guy who knows ‘how to get things from time to time’ in the prison, a bit like Morgan Freeman’s Red character in ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. Their chemistry makes a few scenes work but doesn’t really set the screen ablaze.
In the end, the movie suffers from too much of Stallone and Schwaznagger and their ability to pull off the film on their old shoulders. A few more accomplices would have lightened up the proceedings, but that would have made this film into another ‘Expendables’?
But, what works for the film is that a normal movie goer wouldn’t expect too much from the film and if you are fan of Stallone/Schwarzenegger, the few scenes that click make you sit through the film.
