WHO’S IN IT?
Sylvester Stallone (Rocky), Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator), Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ), Curtis Jackson (Get Rich or Die Tryin’), Vinnie Jones (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), Vincent D’Onofrio (Men in Black), Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Matt Gerald (Avatar), Faran Tahir (Iron Man)
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Mikael Håfström (1408), director; Miles Chapman (film debut) and Jason Keller/Arnell Jesko (Machine Gun Preacher), writers; Robbie Brenner (Deception), Mark Canton (300), Randall Emmett (16 Blocks), George Furla (2 Guns) and Kevin King Templeton (The Expendables), producers; Alex Heffes (The Last King of Scotland), composer; Brendan Galvin (Immortals), cinematographer; Elliot Greenberg (Chronicle), editor
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Ray Breslin (Stallone) is one of the leading authorities in structural security, designing escape-proof prisons through his understanding and experience of survival skills. Things take a wrong turn when Breslin is framed of a crime he didn’t commit and incarcerated in a master prison known as “The Tomb”, which he himself designed. Determined to find the person responsible for his wrongful imprisonment, Breslin plots a daring escape – which requires the help of fellow inmate Emil Rottmayer (Schwarzenegger)…
WHY SHOULD YOU BE EXCITED?
When then-Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger made an all-too-brief cameo appearance in Stallone’s The Expendables, the minds of action geeks everywhere exploded. They just could not believe that two of the biggest genre icons shared a scene together after all their years apart, and although it was indeed just a couple minutes of screen time they were excited as hell. Both stars returned, with Schwarzenegger in a slightly bigger role, in sequel The Expendables 2 but it was clear even that wasn’t enough. Luckily, both stars managed to find a project which they could work together full-time.
Escape Plan, from the vision of director Mikael Håfström, puts Stallone and Schwarzenegger in a situation reminiscent of The Shawshank Redemption but with a more action-heavy macho feel to it all. After all, this is Stallone and Schwarzenegger in the same movie together, you can practically hear the testosterone brewing. Both have built strong careers on some of the most entertaining action films of the past few decades, and yet both are as likable and misunderstood as the other (and by “misunderstood”, we of course mean no-one has any idea what they’re saying half the time: one’s a mumbler and the other has a thick Austrian accent but by God we still love it).
Sadly, both men also need a big hit with this film after a poor showing so far this year with their individual solo projects. The Last Stand, which was Schwarzenegger’s first leading role since stepping down as Governor of California, bombed heavily at the box office as did Stallone’s Bullet to the Head, which reunited him with The Expendables 2 director Simon West. It can’t be a message from the paying public saying they’re tired of them, since both action stars are still fairly popular with audiences – and to be fair, neither film had particularly good advertising – but there’s no denying that their once-strong credibility is starting to become thin.
It needs to take a film that can give us everything we love about watching Stallone and Schwarzenegger in action to get them back on top once more, and hopefully Escape Plan should be that golden ticket. So, if you want to see them do what they love to do best, you can do no wrong in going to see this movie and remind yourselves of why you grew to love them in the first place.
