ESCAPE PLAN DVD (2013)




SYNOPSIS: Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone), the world's foremost authority on structural security, agrees to take on one last job: breaking out of an ultra-secret, high-tech facility called "The Tomb." When he realizes he's been the victim of a trick and has been wrongly imprisoned, he recruits fellow inmate Emil Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to help devise a daring, nearly impossible plan to escape from the most protected and fortified prison ever built.

MOVIE REVIEW:

“Better late than never” is best used to describe Escape Plan. Two of Hollywood’s most famous action icons team up for the first time in this action thriller helmed by Swedish Mikael Håfström.

The action quotient is surprisingly dialed back despite the upsize Sly/Arnold combo. I suspect something called age got to do with it even though I can’t deny it’s still fun to see Arnold delivering some wisecracks while Sly lands some tough punches to his opponents.

Originally named The Tomb, Sly plays Ray Breslin, an expert in jailbreak, not jailbreaking an iPad but a real cell or maximum-security premise for that matter. When Ray is tricked into testing a top-secret prison, he finds himself struggling to stay alive under the charge of a sadistic prison warden, Hobbes (Jim Caviezel). In order to plan his escape, he must team up with a resourceful fellow inmate, Rottmayer (Schwarzengger) or risk spending his entire life in the escape-proof prison.

It’s never boring watching Sly and Arnold onscreen together. The Expendables don’t really count though. The duo exudes sizzling chemistry and clearly game on putting on a good show. The premise is interesting enough but comparing to the stuff they did during their heydays, Escape Plan suffers from a low budget and it clearly shows for the bulk of the movie. The script attempts to distract the audience by showcasing Breslin’s wits and Rottmayer’s humour to make up for the prolonged running time. Yet it somehow backfires when they are simply too many scenes featuring Breslin and Rottmayer’s hush-hush discussion over lunch.

Fortunately, Håfström and his two leading men brought in some need be old school action in the third act successfully dispelling audience’s disgruntledness and satisfying everyone’s anticipation. When you are watching a movie featuring Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, there’s a strong feeling you won’t be keen on people like Caviezel and Vinnie Jones playing psychotic wardens, Vincent D’Onofrio as Breslin’s scheming partner, 50 Cent as a computer expert or Sam Neil appearing as the prison doctor.

To conclude, the wrinkles might be showing, the muscles sagging. Still, Escape Plan is an easy to watch action flick especially when it contains two huge marquee names strong enough to drown you with suffocating levels of testosterone.   

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The extras include Executing the Plan, a 22 minutes segment that interviewed the main cast & crew and some behind the scene footages. There also 11 Deleted Scenes. 

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The DVD boasts strong detailing and colours while the Dolby Digital 5.1 delivers clear dialogue and the occasional surround activity. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee



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 ABOUT THE MOVIE

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Mikael Håfström
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jim Caviezel, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Vinnie Jones, Vincent D'Onofrio, Sam Neill, Amy Ryan, Faran Tahir, Matt Gerald
Rating: NC-16 (Coarse Language and Some Violence)
Year Made: 2013

 SPECIAL FEATURES

- Executing the Plan
- Deleted Scenes

 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Languages: English
Subtitles: English/Simplified Chinese

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Running Time: 1 hr 55 mins
Region Code: 3
Distributor: HVN Entertainment Singapore