No Escape

An American family moves to a country in Southeast Asia that borders Vietnam but suddenly find themselves in the midst of a coup. Owen Wilson plays the father and Lake Bell the mother. Pierce Brosnan is on hand as a Brit that helps them out.

"No Escape" (2015) is an edge-of-your-seat thriller that tackles a real-life possibility. What happens if you're unexpectedly thrust into a situation where you HAVE to protect your family? Would you kill to survive? This is like "The Killing Fields" (1985) in the modern day, albeit way more compelling and succinct.

It's nice to see Owen in something serious; he plays the every-man role well. Meanwhile Lake ain't no slouch and Brosnan kicks axx in a peripheral part.

The film runs 1 hour, 43 minutes, and was shot in Thailand.

GRADE: A-/B+

No Escape is one of the best action/thrillers of recent times. It isn't one of those movies that will be spoken about for years too come, but we must give credit where it is needed.

No Escape is a gripping, intense, cleverly put together movie. From the beginning the movie sets us up with the motives of why the family is moving and you feel connected with the main character Jack (Owen Wilson)who just wants to do whats best for his family. Seeing and loving, Owen Wilson is more comedic roles i didn't know how he would fair up is this action pact thriller, but i must admit, there may be a new genre around the corner and maybe another huge turning point in his career, sending him among the greats.

The film's writers have a lot to do with the success of this film, its script never dumbs down for the viewers, it is a script of what people would actually say and conversations that would actually happen in this situation. It makes you feel for the characters in the film and helps you to understand what is going on. You will feel apart of it. it cleverly leaves out all of the irrelevant details, keeping viewers guessing about what will happen next and how they will get out of a very sticky situation, while the mayhem continues around our main characters.

No Escape hits the ground running and never takes its foot off of the gas petal. Tensions are high and there is moments when you question how they are going to get out of an outrageously dangerous, near impossible situation. But it is not a movie where you feel as though the main character will survive no matter what. There are times where his death looks likely.

No Escape is a strong emotional and physical battle for survival and will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

7.5/10

A must see, and a vastly underrated movie.

I really enjoyed the movie and don't get the low reviews. Someone said it was racist brown vs white. Asians aren't brown. There's no racism in the movie. This is a story about an American family who is trying to survive a coup. Very simple concept but executed beautifully.

It's pretty much intense from 15 mins until the ending. I was on the edge of my seat hoping they made it. Owen Wilson shines in this movie. Kids though annoying did a good job. This isn't a thought provoking movie. It's a movie where you will love it if you love simple action movies.

Also not sure why the roof throwing scene gets cropped on. Seems reasonable to me Stuck on roof with bad guys with guns and can't go down jump across to the other building.

This movie did make me scared to go to another country.. reminds you to appreciate the freedoms and stability American has.

NOTE: I've skirted around some of the key thrilling episodes that occur within the film, but I feel I've talked about them without actually giving anything away. I don't think this review requires a spoiler alert!

I watched this having heard absolutely nothing about it, and having not even heard of it. I caught the picture of the cover art, and it seemed like it was Wilson and Brosnan, so thought I'd take a look.

Right from the off - it had the feel of something everso slightly different from the normal action film fodder. I won't ruin the surprise beginning, and then it cuts to the Wilson based family heading into this unnamed Asian country for a job-move.

From almost upon arrival and for the rest of the film, it's something of a thrill ride. I found myself particularly enthralled when Bell was trapped in their hotel room at the beginning of events - something about the acting and the filming really conveyed real fear and this totally hooked me in. It was clear that this was going to be a decent film from this moment on. It has a slightly "handicam" film-making quality about it, but in this instance, it absolutely adds to the feel imho.

From the hotel rooftop to the adjacent, again, it conveyed real fear. Would you do that with your family? Shocking from a parents point of view, but believable in that you'd have no choice. From a parental perspective - totally shocking and enthralling. My wife happened to walk into the room just at this point, and she was definitely mentally scarred by what she saw!

And there it goes on - for me, the only real slight let-downs in the movie are when Brosnan re-finds the family which in such a scenario really isn't likely to have happened, and indeed what Bell does whilst they are hiding in the old man's garden. I don't feel that a mother, protecting her children would have done that.

Apart from these small elements of storyline which probably allowed a little too much implausibility, along with just how much difficulty with the local rebels Wilson's character was realistically likely to overcome and deal with, particularly towards the end of the film - even with full adrenalin running were the only small faults.

Still, having said all that - I'll be watching this again soon. It was quite a thrill ride and most certainly not wholesome family entertainment. There's some really quite surprisingly graphic scenes of violence, which totally suited the film, but definitely not for young eyes.

I walked into this movie with very low expectations and I was tired. This movie stars Owen Wilson in an Action/Thriller...not a comedy. That's not saying his comedies are that great, either. But this film wow-ed me. I literally said, "wow" out loud in the theater.

The start of the movie was very captivating. Enough action was in before the titles even came on, then unexpected humor. Kenny Rogers even showed up (not really, but you'll see what I mean)! Overall, Owen Wilson and his family are placed in extremely difficult situations to which it seems that there is little to no escape. The plot alone deserves at least a 4.5 of 5 stars. Coupled with the 5 star acting of not only Wilson, but the children! These kids were absolutely astounding and very convincing! Even Pierce Brosnan was a wonderful addition to the movie, with his excellent comedic timing. I will say that the comedy's placement messed with me because the movie was that stressful. Perhaps the only issue I had was the ending. It just could have been better writing. Direction and acting get 5 stars from me, and the soundtrack about a 4 for its excellent suspense addition. I did not expect this movie to be great, but I had trouble getting to sleep afterwards because I was so stressed out! This movie deserves at least a 4.5 of 5 stars! I would pay to see this movie!