Inescapable

2013

Inescapable

Critics Consensus

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Inescapable Photos

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Movie Info

This politically charged and emotionally powerful thriller follows a successful businessman who suddenly finds his life turned upside down when his journalist daughter goes missing during her trip to his hometown of Damascus. He knows that the reason for his exile is tied to his daughter's disappearance. His first trip home in over 30 years turns into a frantic quest to rescue his daughter while reconnecting with the love of his life.

Rating:

R (for some violence and brief language)
Genre:

Drama
Directed By:

Ruba Nadda
Written By:

Ruba Nadda
In Theaters:

Feb 22, 2013 limited
On Disc/Streaming:

Jul 2, 2013
Box Office:

$4,063
Runtime:

90 minutes
Studio:

IFC Films

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Cast

Alexander Siddig
as Adib Abdul-Kareem

Daniel Iron

Joshua Jackson
as Paul

Marisa Tomei
as Fatima

Jay Anstey
as Muna

Oded Fehr
as Sayid

Saad Siddioui

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News & Interviews for Inescapable

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Critic Reviews for Inescapable

All Critics (22) | Top Critics (11)

The film tries to meld politically charged personal drama with the action-movie tropes you'd expect in a story set in the Middle East. (Chase through a crowded marketplace? Brawl at the hamam? Check!)

Feb 22, 2013 | Full Review…

Alonso Duralde
TheWrap
Top Critic
The plot unfolds at a nice clip, but at no point does director Ruba Nadda evade expectations.

Feb 22, 2013 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…

Farran Smith Nehme
New York Post
Top Critic
One hopes "Inescapable" is only a momentary stumble for this promising filmmaker.

Feb 21, 2013 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

Betsy Sharkey
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic
A Canadian nonthriller that plays like a heavily sedated hybrid of "Taken" and "Not Without My Daughter" ...

Feb 21, 2013 | Rating: 2/5

Jeannette Catsoulis
New York Times
Top Critic
Inescapable is Nadda's first foray into thriller territory, and her inexperience shows in awkwardly mounted fight scenes and clumsy car chases, not to mention an almost fatally explanatory script.

Feb 21, 2013 | Full Review…

Ella Taylor
NPR
Top Critic
Muddled and inert despite the best intentions, this inescapably dull thriller plays like a Middle Eastern take on Liam Neeson's "Taken."

Feb 21, 2013 | Rating: 1/5 | Full Review…

Joe Neumaier
New York Daily News
Top Critic
"Inescapable" offers a respectful treatment of its Arab characters' struggles, set at a central position rare in North American cinema, but it waters itself down in its effort to make them palatable to a non-Arab audience.

Feb 20, 2018 | Full Review…

Steve Erickson
Gay City News
Clearly meaning Inescapable as an act of love, Ms. Nada, a Canadian filmmaker with Syrian/Palestinian parents, has instead done a great disservice to her gene pool and our film-loving sensibilities. Irksome would be a more appropriate title.

Mar 18, 2013 | Full Review…

Brandon Judell
CultureCatch
The movie suffers from the conflict between its potboiler instincts and the filmmaker's understandable need to acknowledge the brutality of Syria's secretive regime.

Mar 1, 2013 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…

Robert Levin
amNewYork
Doesn't have the juice normally associated with such violent entertainment. Its interest in characterization is admirable, but there's little firepower where it counts the most.

Feb 21, 2013 | Rating: C | Full Review…

Brian Orndorf
Blu-ray.com
The movie could just as well be set in Islamabad, Nairobi or any city Westerners find threatening. (It was filmed, in fact, in Johannesburg.) It would look about right on a cable channel at 9 p.m.

Feb 21, 2013 | Full Review…

Craig Seligman
Bloomberg News
This international thriller-sparked by a nice, unexpected Marisa Tomei performance-starts off promisingly but trails off into cheap melodrama.

Feb 21, 2013 | Full Review…

David Noh
Film Journal International

View All Critic Reviews (22)

Audience Reviews for Inescapable

Feb 24, 2013

After his daugher Muna(Jay Anstey), a photographer, goes missing in Damascus, Adib(Alexander Siddig) is forced to return to his native Syria for the first time in decades where he is persona non grata to say the least. At least, he still has friends there like Fatima(Marisa Tomei) who helps him enter the country and Sayid(Oded Fehr) who is now a big cheese in the security services. That's not to say Adib is helpless on his own as he discovers a couple of clues in his daugher's hotel room. Of course, there is nothing quite like protocol when he visits the Canadian embassy to check in with Paul Ridge(Joshua Jackson) before making a call to the Russian embassy. "Inescapable" is at best a half-baked thriller. Now, if only it had been a fully baked thriller, we could have gotten some fun out of the whole thing. As it is, there are some nice moments, especially the opening lock picking scene, and fine shots but not much beyond that. On the minus side, there is almost a running joke out of quickly obtained visas and characters here tend to get rescued not out of their own resourcefulness but out of somebody showing out of the blue. You need more than that level of potential watchfulness and a few mentions to fully document pre-civil war Syria as a police state which does not exactly come as a surprise. What is desperately needed in the movie is a broader perspective not only on the country but on Adib, along with more dramatic depth.

Walter M Super Reviewer
Feb 21, 2013

A tense, smart, terrifically character driven and exciting suspense-thriller. It depends on story, characters and substance above all else and is surprisingly effective and genuinely moving. It's a riveting, well-crafted and nail-biting film that delivers some strong performances and gritty action. A solid and outstanding cast. Alexander Siddig is absolutely superb. Joshua Jackson is excellent. Oded Fehr is terrific. Marisa Tomei is wonderful. A tough, stylish, gripping and excellent movie. It's great to see a Canadian-produced film of this quality, they rarely get as good as this one.

Al S Super Reviewer