In the year 2022, the penal system is run completely by corporations with prisoners sent to isolated prisons sequestered from society. Former soldier, Robbins (Ray Liotta) is sentence to such a prison after he kills his commanding officer and having since escaped two lower security prisons. When Robbins flagrantly disobeys the orders of the Warden (Michael Lerner), Robbins is sent to the island of Absolom which is feared even more than the prison and consists of savage untamed wilderness where the prisoners fight amongst themselves with the only rule being "might makes right". Robbins soon finds himself between two groups on the island, the savage and sadistic Outsiders ruled over by Walter Marek (Stuart Wilson), and the peaceful and benevolent Insiders ruled over by The Father (Lance Henriksen).
No Escape aka Escape from Absolom is an adaptation of the novel The Penal Colony by Richard Herley. The film was the third American Film for Kiwi/British director Martin Campbell following Criminal Law and Defenseless and was released a year before Campbell's career skyrocketed with the release of the first Brosnan fronted Bond film Goldeneye. Positioned by short lived indie distributor Savoy Pictures as a major Summer release including commercial tie-ins with a SNES and Genesis video game and a three issue comic series from Marvel Comics, the movie did open at the top of the box office, but didn't have much in the way of staying power and quickly fell from the top earners in the coming weeks facing off against films like Four Weddings and a Funeral, With Honors, and Brandon Lee's posthumously released The Crow. The movie received mixed reviews from critics pointing out the familiarity of the film to other previous films like Escape from New York, Mad Max, or various prison films but on a strictly action oriented level there's solid entertainment value on display.
From a purely technical perspective, No Escape looks great. From the sterile and harsh futuristic aesthetics we initially see of the world to the lush jungle environments filled with savage marauders, the movie feels like a fully realized world of this land that's out of time and out of place where the world's criminal rejects are living in a primitive state of tribal societies and warfare. Admittedly it's very standard dystopian future stakes with the setup of the villainous Outsiders versus the more morally righteous (by comparison) Insiders more or less the same setup we saw in Mad Max: The Road Warrior albeit with the added external element of The Warden, but it's a solid enough setup for action packed futuristic nonsense. The societies of the Insiders and the Outsiders are visually distinct and have some nicely designed sets and culture building with some particularly amusing points coming from Kevin J. O'Connor as the Insiders' salvage expert who has an amusing bit of laying claim to Robbins' boots should he die, or the always reliable Lance Henriksen as the leader of the Insiders. The movie's also quite unique in how it envisions this prison society with only men unlike Escape from New York which just threw in every criminal together and it makes for an interesting approach to this type of material that creates unique dynamics.
One of the drawbacks however is the fact that the movie is cobbled together from familiar parts so you definitely do find yourself remembering what elements of No Escape you saw elsewhere previously. The movie's also too long for the type of movie it is clocking in at just under 2 hours and I did feel there were several moments in the middle of the movie that dragged because while Campbell attempts to create character and a sense of culture to this island prison, the characters and culture aren't all that interesting beneath the aesthetics. Liotta is okay as our lead Robbins though his redemption arc kind of robs him of the mystique you look for in this type of character like you saw in someone like Snake Plissken from Escape from New York. The movie delivers on the action with solid practical effects and some impactful and creative action sequences, but the parts between them drag and just don't have the character or substance needed to sustain the wait between sequences.
There's ambition with No Escape and despite only coting $20 million it looks on par with something more expensive like Waterworld, but it also isn't interesting or substantial enough to justify its 2 hour runtime or avoid comparisons to prior movies of this ilk. It's a decent enough time killer on its own and you'll get some solid action and kill sequences, but you need to sit through some dead space to get to the good parts.
No Escape aka Escape from Absolom is an adaptation of the novel The Penal Colony by Richard Herley. The film was the third American Film for Kiwi/British director Martin Campbell following Criminal Law and Defenseless and was released a year before Campbell's career skyrocketed with the release of the first Brosnan fronted Bond film Goldeneye. Positioned by short lived indie distributor Savoy Pictures as a major Summer release including commercial tie-ins with a SNES and Genesis video game and a three issue comic series from Marvel Comics, the movie did open at the top of the box office, but didn't have much in the way of staying power and quickly fell from the top earners in the coming weeks facing off against films like Four Weddings and a Funeral, With Honors, and Brandon Lee's posthumously released The Crow. The movie received mixed reviews from critics pointing out the familiarity of the film to other previous films like Escape from New York, Mad Max, or various prison films but on a strictly action oriented level there's solid entertainment value on display.
From a purely technical perspective, No Escape looks great. From the sterile and harsh futuristic aesthetics we initially see of the world to the lush jungle environments filled with savage marauders, the movie feels like a fully realized world of this land that's out of time and out of place where the world's criminal rejects are living in a primitive state of tribal societies and warfare. Admittedly it's very standard dystopian future stakes with the setup of the villainous Outsiders versus the more morally righteous (by comparison) Insiders more or less the same setup we saw in Mad Max: The Road Warrior albeit with the added external element of The Warden, but it's a solid enough setup for action packed futuristic nonsense. The societies of the Insiders and the Outsiders are visually distinct and have some nicely designed sets and culture building with some particularly amusing points coming from Kevin J. O'Connor as the Insiders' salvage expert who has an amusing bit of laying claim to Robbins' boots should he die, or the always reliable Lance Henriksen as the leader of the Insiders. The movie's also quite unique in how it envisions this prison society with only men unlike Escape from New York which just threw in every criminal together and it makes for an interesting approach to this type of material that creates unique dynamics.
One of the drawbacks however is the fact that the movie is cobbled together from familiar parts so you definitely do find yourself remembering what elements of No Escape you saw elsewhere previously. The movie's also too long for the type of movie it is clocking in at just under 2 hours and I did feel there were several moments in the middle of the movie that dragged because while Campbell attempts to create character and a sense of culture to this island prison, the characters and culture aren't all that interesting beneath the aesthetics. Liotta is okay as our lead Robbins though his redemption arc kind of robs him of the mystique you look for in this type of character like you saw in someone like Snake Plissken from Escape from New York. The movie delivers on the action with solid practical effects and some impactful and creative action sequences, but the parts between them drag and just don't have the character or substance needed to sustain the wait between sequences.
There's ambition with No Escape and despite only coting $20 million it looks on par with something more expensive like Waterworld, but it also isn't interesting or substantial enough to justify its 2 hour runtime or avoid comparisons to prior movies of this ilk. It's a decent enough time killer on its own and you'll get some solid action and kill sequences, but you need to sit through some dead space to get to the good parts.