MinistryofDoom Review of No Escape

No Escape (I) (2015)

An enjoyable ride hampered by illogical missteps & blatant stereotyping

[6/10 · 24 July 2018]

This Owen Wilson/Lake Bell driven action film is an enjoyable yet difficult experience. It's strengths are in it's ability to depict the isolationd felt by expatriates in foreign lands far removed from the comforts and routines of which they are familiar. Place that into the context of a civil uprising in an un-named 3rd world country where they are not only unable to communicate and traverse the unknown landscape but are incapable of knowing whom are friends and foes, and you have a true thrill ride. The problem is that it is also difficult to watch as certain illogical missteps are made which ultimately put the family in far greater jeopardy, defying common sense, and threatening their survival. It also attempts to make a political statement though it is difficult to understand what that statement is, since it is lost in the clutter of the film's plot. What we do know is that an expatriate engineer travels to a non-descript Asian country (which borders Vietnam) along with his family to work on a project and almost immediately a violent uprising breaks out between armed civilians and riot police whom are quickly and easily dispatched. After that no where else in the entire film do we see any authority figures attempting to restore order (it seems that the civilians in the span of an hour have taken over the entire country and killed all the security officers). The civilians then begin to hunt down and publicly execute foreigners for unknown reasons. The US Embassy is completely destroyed. American soldiers are lying dead at it's doorstep but killed them and why? Why does the country's population hate foreigners? Why are the committing public executions? Where are the government officials? Where are the security forces? Why are all the civilians depicted as barbaric violent savages? None of these questions are ever answered; all we know is that a man, his wife, and two daughters are attempting to flee the country before they are killed. The film wants us to focus on their process of fleeing and not to question why they are fleeing and so we have action-packed thriller that is extremely light on context and does not provide much substance story-wise.