No Escape (2015)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: No Escape's talented cast and taut B-movie thrills are unfortunately offset by its one-dimensional characters and uncomfortably retrograde worldview.
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Critic Reviews for No Escape
All Critics (148) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (67) | Rotten (81) | DVD (1)
No Escape takes the casual xenophobia of something like Taken, crossbreeds it with something altogether more noxious, then asks us to kick back and enjoy the ride. We don't. We can't. And the ride isn't that great to begin with.
No Escape is as accomplished as it is vicious.
No Escape is bare-bones, shameless, and too obnoxious to stay suspenseful for long.
Writer-director John Eric Dowdle makes the street action propulsive, bewildering and terrifyingly real, and things are just getting warmed up.
I won't make a case for No Escape being a good film; the first half is pretty good and the second half ranges from pretty bad to truly awful.
Dowdle sticks closely to the family's perspective, for better and for worse; though fairly effective at conveying their terror, he fails to establish any sort of social or political context for the story.
Audience Reviews for No Escape
A film that never got much advertisment and ends up being a very good film, We get about 5 of these a year, It's an edge of your seat action thriller that's kind of offensive in ways but still a great popcorn flick and it was nice to see Owen Wilson in a serious role for a change, The action was very good and full of suspense all the cast were great but Pierce Brosnan was brilliant but under used, The film has had some harsh reviews because critics don't like it when a film dares to step over certain lines, It's a film you watch enjoy then forget about.
Super Reviewer
Incredibly intense, No Escape is the story of a family's desperate fight for survival in the face of extreme circumstances. When Jack Dwyer moves his wife and kids to Southeast Asia after getting a job with an American company they get caught-up in a violent revolution and must find a way to get to the American embassy before they're captured and killed by the street mobs. Owen Wilson, Lake Bell, and Pierce Brosnan lead the cast, and give fairly good performances. And, the director uses some interesting slow motion techniques that intensify the action. Still, the pacing is rather slow in the first act, and the plot is pretty thin. Yet for a high-adrenaline chase film, No Escape works.
Super Reviewer
"No Escape" knows no subtlety. I was almost surprised that subtitles didn't appear throughout the movie notifying the audience of the messages and moments of pathos they were intended to perceive, in case those points were missed in the clunky script. It didn't help that the film's lead, Owen Wilson, was completely miscast -- unless a feckless, wimpy father was the hero Dowdle had in mind for his everyday American. If you are a fan of action and suspense who doesn't really care about characters or story, then the film might not be so bad for you. There are some exciting moments (even if they later succumb to the silly), so it's not a complete dud. Overall, "No Escape" is a completely forgettable film.
Super Reviewer
No Escape Quotes
| Hammond: | I've had better days, Jack. |
| Jack Dwyer: | You see that, that's a helicopter. |
| Jack Dwyer: | Keep your head down! |
| Jack Dwyer: | We've got to get ourself to the American Embassy. |