ESCAPE PLAN

This latest Stallone/Arnold film is serviceable. Obviously an amazing action film but it kind of felt like Now You See Me in regards to his escape from the two prisons. I thought the acting was okay and the plot was fine. It did leave me entertained overall because I did like the teamup and the prison warden was one a-hole. Is this something you should rush out and see? Definitely not, it's a strict redbox/netflix film. Nowhere near the fun of Last Stand btw.

Grade - C

better than bullet to the head, worse than the last stand. schwarzenegger screaming in german is almost worth it on its own.

Wow, someone gave this an "F". Is it really that bad?

Though they shared a single scene in The Expendables and a few more in the largely deflating follow-up, Escape Plan is the first proper pairing of eighties action icons Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. This obviously, sadly, will not inspire the level of widespread excitement it would have a quarter of a century ago, but this nifty and well-paced prison film will satisfy the fans still invested. Sly plays Ray, an escape artist who earns a living entering maximum-security prisons under a false identity and then escaping, thus revealing the jail in question's security shortcomings. The central plot is set in motion when he agrees to a more dangerous job than usual, one involving a high-tech secret prison for religious radicals and the most extreme criminals. Arnold, entering the film with scene stealing vigor at the start of the second act, co-stars as another inmate at the mysterious facility who notices Ray's observant nature and agrees to aid in the escape when the job becomes even more complicated than expected. Jim Caviezel quietly exudes fastidious malevolence as the eagle eyed warden, wisely realizing he cannot outshine the leads and instead finding ways to complement them. In a refreshing change of pace from The Expendables 2, the film is laced with fan pleasing moments, including a reunion of Arnold and his machine gun shot as if it were the beach scene in From Here to Eternity, without lapsing into air-quote, for-your-ironic-amusement self-parody; it plays, and plays well, as a macho, old-fashioned, and soundly conceived prison-escape film. Pure, solid, and straight. Other than a few slightly out-of-tune notes at the very end indicating a film unsure which image should be its last, Escape Plan is an admirable outing for everyone involved.

B+

I'm pumped.

You will highly enjoy/love it. I have no doubt. I prefer Bullet to the Head, but you may prefer this.

What I mean regarding the very, very ending:

Well it was pretty good, enjoyable. Better than I expected. B- or B

Ha, now there's two Fs. Was it really that bad, Chip?

Just want to let you know, I appreciate the spoiler tags as I don't want to know what happens, but I do want to know if people enjoyed the movie. So thanks.

4 Fs already? what went wrong with this movie??

It stars Stallone, and I am a Stallone fan. People dislike me, and they rate it an "F".

WOKJ is like junior high.

I saw this with my mom , and she highly enjoyed it, too.

I am sure mine would too.

Which pretty much says a lot about the fans of Sly and Arnie and why their films are not doing that well in theatres.

Yah for moms, I hadn't been home in a while and she really wanted to see this over Gravity and Captain Phillips.

I really enjoyed it, the beginning is a little shaky and rushed, but once they get to the prison the film starts to work very well The prison is cool, the action is very solid, and all of the performances range from serviceable (Vincent and his hand sanitizer????) to very effective. Arnold is downright awesome in this film. He basically posed for the camera's twice, once Dave already mentioned and the 10 people (SO SAD) in the theater let out some great reactions as the highlight of the film. The other is him actually posing for a video camera that is downright hilarious as well. Is their official first pairing as epic as it should have been? As most of us know, Face Off was originally intended as their first get together. It's obviously not that, but it's still solid actioner and prison movie, with a capable Sly and above average Arnold. I'm loving the new Arnie, with this and him taking some chances in Last Stand, his later career looks like it will different, but also entertaining.

B+/A-

One tiny detail I despised: the super cheesy title card at the start. I would have rather it just said "Escape Plan" in crisp white letters, honestly.

I have not voted in this poll because I have not seen this.

Yeah, sure.

Not that I really give a shit...

Pretty easy to get that screenshot.

I liked it, but honestly I can say I was hoping for more. Outside of the Arnold/Stallone scenes this movie just isn't that interesting and you could probably cut all those other pointless characters out and it would have been a MUCH better film IMO.

His team seemed pretty useless most of the time as they didn't do that much to find him in the first place and what the hell is up with Vincent D'Onofrio ALMOST always being typecast as a villain. He deserves better and the reveal was not a big surprise in the least bit.

Also, I really like Jim Caviezel as an actor, but I thought he was only decent as the asshole warden, but his death was pretty fucking lame.

Eh. His team, while indeed fairly uninteresting, are scarcely present anyway. Maybe four or five minutes' worth of scenes with Amy Ryan and 50 Cent interspersed throughout the prison section of the film. I thought it did a solid job honing in closely on Arnold and Sly.

Escape Plan

Tonight one of my childhood and lifelong dreams came true; seeing the two biggest action stars, icons, and heroes come together on-screen for 90 minutes of celluloid perfection. This film was made for Arnie and Sly. Each character represented the actor, the man, the icon perfectly. Arnie, with his wit and love for big gestures and one-liners, and Sly, with his intellect and plotting ability. I had a HUGE smile across my face for the whole film and I still have it now (on the inside). Sublime doesn't do it justice. The one-liners are taken so, so, so well by Arnie, and the intricate planning and execution by Sly in his Ray Quick-esque role as another Ray, Ray Breslin, is just really sharp and modern.

This beats The Last Stand and Bullet to the Head right out of the water. This is the comeback movie that Arnie should have made, and this is the non-franchise movie that Sly should have made first too. I came out of the cinema like a little kid. You know when you are younger and you see a movie, or a TV programme or even a series of toys that you follow, well, when you play with them or watch the movie, you sometimes get a feeling of acting like the main character in the movie etc.? Well, that's how Escape Plan made me feel. It put me back into my childhood watching the films that shaped me (starring the legends that made Escape Plan possible) and I wanted to be Ray Breslin. I came out of the cinema and was eyeing up the tube station, and viewing things differently. It's weird and funny, but that's the impact that this film had on me. It's great cinema, and greatly made cinema too.

The concept is wholly original and I absolutely adored it. The whole ship thing came about a while ago and I left it in my brain as an option so I wasn't too surprised by it, but the visuals were striking when Sly and Arnie both came to the top. Also, Arnie being Mannheim wasn't too much of a shock either, but it was just cool to witness. But I didn't expect the CIA girl to be Arnie's daughter. The clever tricks and gimmicks that Ray Breslin came up with were totally awesome. The film was filmed well, and it moved at a decent pace with some really cool and hilarious moments. The choreography and filming of some of the fight scenes could have been improved, and the cinematography was at 70%, but overall the direction and the script were awe-fucking-some.

My best parts:
Arnie shouting is German
"Say cheese", and Arnie grins for the camera.
Arnie and the slow-mo and the M60
"Boom"

The ending scene on the beach was also really nice. Seeing them together and relaxed was awesome. The supporting cast were also top-notch. Vinnie Jones plays the best role he could being a blow-dealing bastard of a head-guard, while Caviezel plays the all-powerful warden with a sly and calculating calm. Fiddy is in it for about 0.005% of the running time, but he was good for such a small role. Sam Neill must be kicking himself at how his career is now being relegated to a 6th billed doctor role.

Final note; this is a double-billing. Arnie gets the memeorable scenes, but it's Stallone's arc we're following; he's the plotter, the thinker, the brains, whereas Arnie is the comedy (loved him picking out names for the guards - "chicken" being the new boy, and then him naming one after his tubby ex-girlfriend only for Sly to say he's looking at his watch because "it's nearly lunch", just LOL), which adds up to about half-and-half, the best outcome.

I'm so happy right now.

A - Best Film of 2013!

I also disliked this.

In fact, the first 5-10 minutes I was getting worried. It didn't fill me with that sense of elation until they hit the prison and things started happening. But my God, they happened.