The Escapist

I must admit that I rented this movie on DVD, just because Andy Serkis was in it. He played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings - at least his voice did in the first part. So I was kind of curious to see the man behind the voice. But once I was five minutes past the titles the film kind of grew on me, Andy Serkis or no (although he plays his part rather well).and I really liked it. It is a gruesome story about a burglary gone REAL bad, but still it has got some humor too. This could have been a big hit, if only it had been made in Hollywood. I can see Michael Douglas play a part in the remake... But seriously, it is THAT kind of movie. Innocent guy, lovely wife, loads of money - and all of a sudden it does not matter any more. Great Thriller!

The skilled pilot Denis Hopkins (John Lee Miller) loves with his pregnant wife Valerie (Paloma Baeza) and has a comfortable lifestyle. When the gang of criminals leaded by the sadistic Ricky Barnes (Andy Serkis) breaks in his seaside house, he offers whatever the criminals want to protect his beloved wife but the evil Ricky kills Valerie. The baby is saved, and later the murderer is arrested and sent to the maximum security prison of Sullen Voe. Denis moved by the purpose of revenging the death of Valerie, gives Amy and his house to his sister-in-law Christine (Jodhi May). Then Denis breaks a police car and is arrested, but he does not reveal his true name and is called John "What" by the prisoners and guards. Denis successively escapes, forcing his transference to Sullen Voe. When he reaches his objective, Ricky schedules a confrontation, but things do not happen the way Denis expected.

"The Escapist" is a great thriller following the saying "Eye for an Eye". Laws with the soft sentence of twenty years for a brutal murder like the sadistic Ricky Barnes does in the movie will only change when societies proactively react, like for example, the character of Denis Hopkins does in the movie killing the criminal. Unfortunately the rushed flawed conclusion forgets the fate of the secondary characters of Christine, Ron and Ricky Barnes's son that could be easily associated to Denis, disclosing his true identity. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Escapista" ("The Escapist")

I haven't seen the film but I was in it as an extra. I often wondered what happened to the film as I never saw in a video shop or advertised anywhere. I'm the prison officer in the courtroom scene on Andy Serkis' left. I was taken aback when Andy reacted violently during the scene as he was taken down after sentencing. They never tell the extras anything. In one take I was flung to the floor in another take he caught me in the ribs with his elbow. I was in agony for weeks. Andy Serkis definitely owes me a drink for that. LOL But I was impressed at the way both Johnny Lee Miller worked together and the way they repeated the intensity required in the scene and then switched off and started talking about football as soon as the cut was called. I'm looking forward to seeing the film soon.

A pilots pregnant wife is killed by a band of thugs who break into their home. The gang is caught and sent off to prison. Wanting to see that "justice" is done the pilot stages his own death and then gets himself arrested so he can hunt the killers in the prisons into which they have been sent.

To be honest the story is a bit clichéd with the plot taking some obvious paths once things are set in motion. Normally that would be a bad thing but here the film works largely thanks to a very good cast of mostly unknown actors. The stand out is Andy Serkis, best known for playing Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies. Here he's the head of the nasty band and his vileness seems to drip off the screen. If you want to know why Peter Jackson chose him to play the tortured creature in the big budgeted epic look no further. Serkis isn't on screen much until the final portion of the film, but his evilness in the early part of the film hangs over everything like a dark cloud.

Definitely worth a look for those who want an undemanding thriller, and those who want to see what Andy Serkis is capable of when he isn't doing just a computer generated character. 6.5 out of 10.

and i do mean drama.this is not an action packed movie.the emphasis is definitely on the drama.it's all about the trouble a man goes to to get revenge on a guy who killed his wife.it takes quite awhile to get there,and when it does,it's almost not worth it,at least in my opinion.i don't mind if a movie takes awhile to get to the payoff,except in this movie,there isn't really a payoff.i sorta wondered to myself if it was worth all the trouble the guy went through.but the movie is at least watchable.plus,there is a bit of character development and there's some pretty good acting.plus,it's not as if the movie is drop dead boring or anything.i just expected more.if you're an action junkie,you should look elsewhere for your fix.you won't find it here.when all is said and done,i think The Escapist is worth a 6/10.