Escape Plan 2

From its derivative and unapologetically mindless opening, Steve C Miller’s Escape Plan 2 is set up to be a tediously bland and downright ugly action flick that only continues to decrease in quality as we’re dragged kicking and screaming through a plot that sees a highly trained security force (led by Sylvester Stallone) attempt to break out of an ultra-secure underground prison after one of his team goes missing. With the right script and director, this blend of Shawshank meets Ip Man could have made for a tight thriller, but instead audiences are left with this poorly executed snore-fest.

Perhaps the most fatal flaw of this movie is its structure – or lack of, to be more precise. Not only does it take 15 minutes for the “story” to kick in after force-feeding us spoonfuls of exposition, but even when events are in full swing, the script is unable to find a suitable pace that allows for any tension, intrigue or cohesion to come from what’s being presented onscreen; we’re barely introduced to a new plot thread or piece of the puzzle before being propelled into another situation to have even more exposition thrust upon us. By inhibiting the natural development of events, every ounce of excitement and interest is sucked from the film.

Likewise, the poor script isn’t helped by performances from a cast who all seem like they’d rather be somewhere else. Both Stallone and Dave Bautista have proven their talent as recently as in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (which they both appeared in), but here neither of them puts any effort into their performance and they subsequently come across as completely flat. However, no one is as flat as Huang Xiaoming, who seems more robot than human, and our suspension of disbelief doesn’t go far enough to buy 50 Cent as a genius hacker.

Action scenes, too, are atrociously handled. There are enough quick cuts and sporadic movements to give anyone motion sickness, and when the picture is at least 70% action this is a huge problem – and that’s not even mentioning the laughable special effects that would look outdated in an 80s B-Movie.

Utterly nonsensical and incomprehensible, Escape Plan 2 is as mindlessly bland an action flick as they come. Awfully written, performed and shot, this is one film you want to escape from.

Andrew Murray

Escape Plan 2 is released in cinemas and digitally on demand on 20^th July 2018.

Watch the trailer for Escape Plan 2 here: