Escape Plan (2013)

In Escape Plan one man enters, but two men leave.  How is this possible?  His name is Schwarzenegger.

Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone) is a security consultant that specializes in testing the security of maximum security prisons by escaping from them.  Shortly after completing a job, he's contacted by the CIA to test out a new, experimental prison.  The conditions of the job aren't under his normal guidelines, but the money's good, so he agrees to the job.  As part of his cover he's to be captured and brought into the facility, but things quickly go wrong when he's drugged and his tracking device is removed.

Once Breslin awakens in "The Tomb", he meets Warden Hobbs (Jim Caviezel), who's not the warden the CIA said would be his contact.  Clear that there's been a double-cross, Breslin knows he's on his own and is going to have to escape for real.  Another inmate, Emil Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger), takes an interest in Breslin and the two agree to work together in order to escape.

It's a relatively simple "escape from prison" premise, but what hurts Escape Plan is that it gets a little too cute for it's own good.  There are several Oceans Eleven-type moments where they have to go back and explain how things happened after the fact.  It also did a poor job of introducing certain aspects.  Warden Hobbs is interrogating Rottmayer over the location of someone called "Mannheim", but I don't remember any explanation why Hobbs wants Mannheim so bad.  The reason for Breslin's double-cross was difficult to understand, not because it was confusing, but the motivation didn't make sense in the context of the story.

Miles Chapman and Jason Keller's screenplay could have used some tidying up, as well as some punch up on the dialog.  I was actually disappointed in the lack of good one liners or banter between Stallone and Schwarzenegger.  Escape Plan is also needlessly long at almost two hours and it's actually kind of boring in a few parts.  Director Mikael Hafstrom needed to quicken the pace, and there were several parts that could have been edited out.

There's not as much action as you'd expect or would like to see from a duo of action veterans.  There's a fun climax, but you have to sit through nearly 100 minutes until it happens.  For the length of the film, the lack of action is really noticeable.  The visual effects were a little rough in a few parts, too.  With a budget of around $70 million, it doesn't seem like much went towards that aspect.

Arnold is the highlight of the film.  It's not that Stallone is bad, but whenever the film focuses on him the tone is way too serious.  Anytime he's joined by Arnold, the pace quickens and overall feels livelier.  Arnie seemed to be having a great time and had all the best lines.  There's a great scene where he's acting crazy while in solitary and he's totally eating it up.  Not only is it the first time I can recall him speaking in his native German for any length of time, it's the best I've ever seen him act, period.  His physicality may have diminished, but I can get into scenery-chewing performances if this is what we have to look forward to.

The supporting cast is pretty good.  It also stars Vincent D'Onofrio, Sam Neill, Vinnie Jones, Faran Tahir, Amy Ryan, and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson.  None are given much to do, but I can't imagine turning down an opportunity to be in a Stallone/Schwarzenegger film even if they are past their prime.

While far from a good movie, Escape Plan has just enough for fans of Stallone and Schwarzenegger to get their fix.  If you've been looking forward to this, then I think you'll get enough entertainment out of a single viewing, but it's not something you'll go back to watch over and over.  It's right on that border of a matinee or save it for rental.

2.5 (out of 5) Death Stars

The Hunter (2012) - Movie Review

Maybe if this was the Green Goblin hunting a Liger, then this could have been epic!

Willem Dafoe is a hunter hired by a biotech company to find a Tasmanian Tiger, which totally sounds made up, but is actually a real animal believed to be extinct for quite a while.  However, there have been rumors about about recent sightings.  He's supposed to collect samples and organs of this animal, which would presume he's supposed to kill it.  So, you find an extinct species alive and your response is to kill it?  Why?  For cloning?  Why not capture it and take it alive?  It's not really clear why this company wants this tiger so bad, but the clock is ticking.

Dafoe arrives in Tasmania and rooms with a local family.  He has to lie and be vague about why he's there, because other companies and hunters are also after this tiger.  I'm guessing what he was doing was probably illegal as well.  He encounters resistance with the locals, as their primary employment is the logging industry and they think he's part of the environmental groups trying to stop them.

Simply put, not enough happens in The Hunter to keep it truly interesting. You're treated to lots of scenes of Dafoe driving back and forth to the forest and doing handyman tasks around the house.  Even when he's doing more interesting things like tracking and setting traps for the tiger, it's very clinical.  It looks like he really knows what he's doing, but it seems like the type of stuff that only hunting enthusiasts would get anything out of.

The whole movie's setup seemed 'off' to me and I think it's because there were too many things not really explained well.  Then, there's a subplot involving him bonding with these kids he's staying with, their sick mother, and dealing with their missing father, but none of it is developed all that well.   Even when they deal with the conflict between the loggers and the environmentalists, there will be a standoff or argument that goes nowhere. It all fizzles out.

When you finally reach the conclusion, there's actually a good sequence of events, but it took too long to get there.

Based on a novel by Julia Leigh (who just wrote and directed Sleeping Beauty), it seems odd she wasn't involved in the screenplay, which was written by Alice Addison and originally adapted by Wain Fimeri.  I know I harp on this a lot, but it seems like too many writers had a hand in this, where it seems like the movie lost it's voice by not just having Leigh involved.  It lacked focus as a result.  Is this movie a thriller?  A drama?  It's not a wilderness survival film, like The Grey.

I don't think director Daniel Nettheim could decide on a tone for the film either or what he really wanted to do with it.  To illustrate this, look at the poster at the top of this review.  What kind of movie did you think it might be?  Now look at the poster immediately to your left.  Now what kind of movie do you think it is?

Nettheim got good performances out of the cast, but they aren't given much to do.  I didn't even recognize Sam Neill or Frances O'Connor.

There's some very nice cinematography and a good performance by Willem Dafoe, who's the anchor of The Hunter, but that's about it.  It's not an awful film, but just kind of boring.  That's really all I have to say about it.  It's a rental.

2.5 (out of 5) Death Stars