Every once in awhile you hear of somebody getting transferred or getting a new job overseas. Growing up in an affluent Detroit suburb and where you know a lot parents working for the auto industries, it wouldn't be uncommon for a kid to move to a foreign country or the opposite where the foreigners move over here. It's culture shock filled with change both ways. As somebody who really struggles with change, the idea of moving of overseas is very out of the question unless absolutely necessary.
Those same cultural shock and changes are presented to us in the 2015 film No Escape. The Dwyer family has just moved from Austin, Texas to Southeast Asia due to the dad Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson) getting transferred by his company. After only spending one night in town, the Dwyer family finds themselves in a coup where Americans and Jack himself is the main target.
What is quite interesting is that director John Erick Dowdle is involved with this. Dowdle is a director who's had a straight line of good horror films he's put out through the years. With the plot and big names actors, it seems as though he's now going in a different direction. The plot itself is original for sure and can find an audience. Coups of course are found throughout history but No Escape doesn't give a clear explanation as of why this is happening in the movie. Ideas of waters and some type of business greed are topics are out there and hinted at in one scene but in the end, it is just not clear. The first scene is even more of a question mark and even though it's described as a poor country with a lot of poverty, I could have really taken at least a scene or two showing local cops. Basically a group of guys who have some of The Warriors inspirations to them are losing it over water and they start a coup. I am serious here.
The sad thing really is that the movie is shot pretty well. It's really gives us great images especially it's roof scenes and you feel the culture shock. With a rape scene and some pretty intense action scenes, you can't say No Escape is not at least a little exciting. The pacing though is still all over the pace and it get tiresome when the film just can't stop throwing action scenes at you.
The lost cause in No Escape is the characters. It is nice to see Owen Wilson stepping out and playing a different role for him. The always likable Lake Bell plays the mother Annie Dwyer and it is beyond refreshing to see her get another lead role after a fantastic lead role in In a World two years ago. Action star Pierce Brosnan plays Hammond; a spy and we have no idea as to why he's in this country and he appears unevenly. We just need more characters ultimately because it is beyond depressing just watching a family with small girls stuck and scared in coup for three acts nor can they full carry this film without it sagging a little.
For what it's trying to be, No Escape surely have been much worse. That said, it might be time for Dowdle to go back to making movies about the Paris catacombs, serial killer tapes and trying to figure who's the devil on a elevator because his ideas on government are not up to his usual high standards. No Escape is only something to watch again because of how well it's made but Dowdle's other films have a much higher "rewatch" quality.
Those same cultural shock and changes are presented to us in the 2015 film No Escape. The Dwyer family has just moved from Austin, Texas to Southeast Asia due to the dad Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson) getting transferred by his company. After only spending one night in town, the Dwyer family finds themselves in a coup where Americans and Jack himself is the main target.
What is quite interesting is that director John Erick Dowdle is involved with this. Dowdle is a director who's had a straight line of good horror films he's put out through the years. With the plot and big names actors, it seems as though he's now going in a different direction. The plot itself is original for sure and can find an audience. Coups of course are found throughout history but No Escape doesn't give a clear explanation as of why this is happening in the movie. Ideas of waters and some type of business greed are topics are out there and hinted at in one scene but in the end, it is just not clear. The first scene is even more of a question mark and even though it's described as a poor country with a lot of poverty, I could have really taken at least a scene or two showing local cops. Basically a group of guys who have some of The Warriors inspirations to them are losing it over water and they start a coup. I am serious here.
The sad thing really is that the movie is shot pretty well. It's really gives us great images especially it's roof scenes and you feel the culture shock. With a rape scene and some pretty intense action scenes, you can't say No Escape is not at least a little exciting. The pacing though is still all over the pace and it get tiresome when the film just can't stop throwing action scenes at you.
The lost cause in No Escape is the characters. It is nice to see Owen Wilson stepping out and playing a different role for him. The always likable Lake Bell plays the mother Annie Dwyer and it is beyond refreshing to see her get another lead role after a fantastic lead role in In a World two years ago. Action star Pierce Brosnan plays Hammond; a spy and we have no idea as to why he's in this country and he appears unevenly. We just need more characters ultimately because it is beyond depressing just watching a family with small girls stuck and scared in coup for three acts nor can they full carry this film without it sagging a little.
For what it's trying to be, No Escape surely have been much worse. That said, it might be time for Dowdle to go back to making movies about the Paris catacombs, serial killer tapes and trying to figure who's the devil on a elevator because his ideas on government are not up to his usual high standards. No Escape is only something to watch again because of how well it's made but Dowdle's other films have a much higher "rewatch" quality.