Escape Plan (2013)

Directed by: Mikael Hafstrom
Country: USA

Movie Review: Excluding “Evil”, released in 2003, the films directed by Swedish Mikael Hafstrom’s tend to be forgetful. “The Rite” was a complete failure on horror and the new “Escape Plan” isn’t much better, being another weak blockbuster stuffed with the same stereotypes and machinations. Hafstrom tries to take advantage using two tough icons of action genre, Stallone and Schwarzenegger, fact that will certainly save the film financially, but didn’t improve a strained story depicted with a standard approach, where nothing new happens. Ray Breslin (Stallone) is a skilled expert on finding security breaches in maximum-security prisons. Known for his talent of escaping, he and his business partner will be tempted by a CIA agent to accept a last risky job. Kidnapped and incarcerated in an unknown prison, which seems more a spacecraft, he will try to escape the tight security with the help of another inmate, Rottmeyer (Schwarzenegger) who gained his trust, and the facility’s doctor. “The Escape Plan” doesn’t reserve enough surprises and its heroes adopt the same defiant pose that we are used to. With too sophisticated methods and theories, I wonder how can be possible to know so much about a place with so little observation time. Consequently, its lack of credibility instantly corrupted the idea. Among kicks, punches, and sneaky tricks, this is a narrow-minded film that only might work for fanatics of MacGyver series, so popular in the 80’s and 90’s.