Escape Plan (2013)

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone were two of the biggest action stars on the planet during the eighties and early nineties. Both have a lot of entertaining movies to their name and the two always made small jokes about each other in their movies (for example in Demolition Man you hear that Schwarzenegger was president, in Last Action Hero there is a poster of Terminator 2 with Stallone as the cyborg).

During that time the two didn’t appear together on-screen, but they did work together in setting up the Planet Hollywood chain. It would not be until The Expendables that the two shared the screen. For action movie fans it was comparable to De Niro and Pacino finally working together in Heat. It was only a short scene, but in The Expendables 2 it was expanded more. Still a true Schwarzenegger/Stallone movie still had not been made, until now with Escape Plan.

The story is about Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone), who is someone who is able to escape out of any prison. When he is placed in what should be the most secure prison in the world it is up to him to find a weakness in order to get out. He needs the help of other do so, one of them is Emil Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger). The question is whether they will be able to outsmart everyone.

As both men are both closing in on 70 you can’t expect them to still do the same type of action fare which made them famous. Escape Plan offers a little bit of action, but the movie is more about slowly finding out details and outwitting others. Except for the last part of the movie it actually is more prison escape movie then anything else. Of course you can not expect this movie to be the next Shawshank Redemption, but it does not try to be. The problem I had with the movie though is that the jail the movie is set in is supposed to be the best prison in the world, with the highest security. The movie really sells you on this and therefore I do not expect the prison guards to follow protocol and not make many mistakes. There is a scene where Stallone’s character disables a camera in a solitary confinement box and instead of immediately checking it out the guards say to each other that the system must be rebooted. It allows their prisoner to do several things which take at least 10 minutes. Several similar moments happen and these broke my suspension of disbelief.

You know what kind of acting you can expect from Stallone and Schwarzenegger, so they provide no surprises here. Jim Caviezel has fun as playing the evil prison warden and doesn’t hold back in overacting (which did fit his part). The rest of the cast is alright, with the exception of 50 Cent. I have seen him in several movies now, but he has not yet convinced me as an actor, he simply lacks screen presence/charisma to make his roles feel believable.

Escape Plan is an entertaining prison escape movie that will be enjoyable to watch on a Friday night at home. It is mindless fun and a nice time waster, but not a movie you need to rush out to see.