No Escape Review
RYAN: This is a new suspenseful thriller starring Owen Wilson and Lake Bell, whom you don’t normally think of for this genre, but they were both fantastic. They play an average American family who accidentally find themselves amidst a brutal culture war in Asia. It’s a nonstop, heart-pounding film.
CHUCK: The whole time!
RYAN: And it’s not a highly stylized action movie like others we’ve seen recently this summer (Mission: Impossible 5, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) It’s straightforward and every moment I felt like I could hurl because the suspense is so intense.
CHUCK: It starts off with quite a bang and then there’s no respite after that. There may, literally, only be five minutes setting up who they are that is more chill but then the tension starts. There’s a short boil and then the pot overflows.
RYAN: The opening scene is like a cold open, before the title card dramatically appears. It’s such a good scene that grabs you immediately – the music, the shot, the brutality. You feel it from the very start. I felt so tense watching this that I was actually thinking to myself, “I hate this movie!” Not because I didn’t like it, but because of how it made me feel. It was causing jolts of adrenaline inside me. Crazy!
CHUCK: It’s totally anxiety-inducing. It really pushes the buttons. Nothing is played safe. It’s violent.
RYAN: You see things never seen before. Disturbing and harsh how terrible people can be to one another in war situations. Walking out of it, I need a massage now. I need to decompress and destress. Have some chamomile tea at the ready.
CHUCK: Maybe some acupuncture. (laughs) Going back to the cast – they Lake and Owen work well together because neither is unattainably beautiful. They do feel like regular people who get thrown into this crazy situation.
RYAN: And without ever being inappropriate, Owen still had a sense of humor. We know his as a funny guy so that brought more humanity to his role and this film too.
CHUCK: This family of four is put through the ringer. And they’re all holding onto their sanity.
RYAN: It’s a little bit like The Impossible but with human chaos instead of a natural disaster. But equally brutal to a family. The sound design and editing are so great, that alone is worth seeing in the theater.
CHUCK: Absolutely. The score is really good too. And all of the sound effects. It’s blended well.
RYAN: And then there is the aded layer of Pierce Brosnan.
CHUCK: He plays, like, the anti-Bond and it’s cool seeing him like that.
RYAN: He plays a very confident characters and I liked him in this. It’s very violent. The R rating is strong and it’s not for kids at all. I was scared and don’t wanna travel now. You feel like this could actually happen anywhere, anytime. With the current worldwide environment of terrorism, you could end up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
CHUCK: It is the ultimate wrong place/wrong time scenario. And what would you do to save your family?
RYAN: And yourself? Survival. Ahead of time, set up a massage for right after and go see this in the theater!
