A HARROWING JOURNEY THROUGH THIRD WORLD HELL
Movie Review – “No Escape”
Review by Ray Schillaci
A typical American family is transferred over to a third world country for business purposes in Southeast Asia, and the first sign of trouble, aside from the cable and internet not working, is a very weird vibe from the locals that something is brewing. Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson) has been sent over to work for his new water treatment employer, Cardiff, and he has obviously filled his family with one too many promises regarding the move, none that seem to be fulfilled. But that’s the least of Jack’s worries when he suddenly discovers during a morning stroll that he and his family have been placed in the middle of a war zone with revolutionaries ready and willing to beat and kill all tourists.

This family would much rather make their home in the states where they are far more comfortable and safer, but finances have dictated their lives as well as the lives in this poor, war-torn country. The Dowdle Brothers are not just content to give us an escape (or attempted escape) story, they carefully lay out the groundwork of the beginnings of a revolution and how it escalates with money and power. The one fresh breath of air in this near breathtaking suspense tale is Pierce Brosnan’s character, Hammond.

Owen Wilson and Lake Bell are very likable and believable as the struggling Dwyer couple with two small children and the story would be so much different had it just been about Wilson’s character or the married couple. Neither Wilson or Bell’s character ever turn into stock action characters. They make mistakes, have real fears, and deal with their children the best way they can under the harshest of conditions. The children are just as real. They have no qualms about making it known they just want to go back home. They genuinely fear everything happening around them and they tend to freeze up in terror as most children would. They even have to go to the bathroom at the worst possible times and yeah, that does happen in real life.
By adding the children to the mix, and playing out their individual personalties and quirks, director Dowdle knows very well that they are the linchpin of this story. Their safety is tantamount to the tale. Whatever Wilson or Bell go through cannot equal the terror these children are being subjected to, and that in itself is affecting their parents.
Some may scoff at this, and insist it’s an easy way to mount tension. In most cases I could agree, but John Erick Dowdle’s execution of this story is so tight that I cannot see him over-using the children as a mere tool, like a jump/scare in a horror film, and this film is horrifying and gripping in its portrayal of chaos ripping the fabric of a civilization.

“No Escape” brings to mind the same uncomfortable feeling we had with the very memorable ‘Midnight Express”. Both films give us a sense of claustrophobia, and being at a loss when one is taken to a place where its people and environment are not only unfriendly, but possibly dangerous as well. Very few complained about the way “Midnight Express” portrayed Middle Eastern people when the film came out. But in these highly sensitive times, some have easily chastised the Dowdle brothers for their story, but in this critic’s view that’s unwarranted.

Directed by: John Erick Dowdle
Release Date: August 26, 2015
Run Time: 103 Minutes
Country: USA
Rated: R
Distributor: The Weinstein Company/STX