Look me in the eye and tell me that this film doesn’t look terrible to you. The film comes across as a self-congratulatory, America-centric, demonizing look at political unrest in foreign countries. Not to mention a failed attempt at comedic actors Owen Wilson and Lake Bell attempting to transition into dramatic roles. This concerned me, as I thoroughly have enjoyed the work of filmmakers John Erick & Drew Dowdle, especially last year’s found-footage flick, “As Above, So Below.” Yet, nothing about this film really intrigued me enough to consider it ever being good, even if Wilson would be able to suppress his pursed lips and his inevitable usage of the word “wow” in his mannerism we know and love so dearly.

And perhaps, maybe that’s the reason I walked away from “No Escape” so thoroughly impressed.

Now, if “The Gift” mastered slow-building tension really well, “No Escape” mastered throwing the audience directly into an already chaotic situation. Having the opening credits setting the stage with a governmental assassination that leads to the event at the center of this film. After the incredibly stylish title card, the film takes us to the Dwyer family, where father Jack (Wilson) is being transferred to an unspecified Southeast Asian country (the film was shot in Thailand and Thai is spoken, despite the setting not being identified as Thailand) for work purposes with his wife Annie (Bell) and his daughters Lucy (Sterling Jerins) and Beeze (Claire Geare). Shortly into their new life, political unrest begins in the city, and when Americans begin to get killed by the “rebels” as retribution for conning the country into financial turmoil, the Dwyers, with the help of new friend, Hammond (Pierce Brosnan) must escape the violent situation and get granted asylum before they are killed.

Off the bat, you might wonder “Why focus on the Caucasian, American family living in this country?” and you would be well-founded to ask this question, as the film never gives a clear response other than how Hollywood likes to do this stuff to get more money at the box office. Yet, “No Escape” isn’t demonizing to the “rebels,” and at times sympathizes with them when the reasoning for their uprising is revealed, which was a very nice plot point to make. But at the end of the day, the Dwyers are Americans in an anti-American warzone, escape is the only option.

If you’re also asking, “Why is Owen Wilson in this movie?” you’re not going to receive an answer. What can be answered though, is that, while strange, Wilson does a good job in his role, really handling the severity of the situation he’s placed in well. Wilson also takes the stunts of the film really well too, obviously favoring to do his own stunts than use a double. Bell, another comedic actor, also handles her role incredibly well, if not better than Wilson. Bell really finds the ferocity in her role when her children are placed at risk in this volatile situation, and the fire within her shines in all of her scenes. The two child actresses in the film, Jerins and Geare, also handle their volatile situation well too, even if their characters are a tad annoying, as kids sometimes are in films like this. Kids will be kids, in any situation, I suppose.

From the start, “No Escape” is a tense film, really mastering the art of placing the audience in the scenes with the characters themselves, favoring intimate filmmaking over anything of real epic proportions. During my screening for “No Escape,” I saw the audience react in such a responsive manner, more than I’ve seen in any film this year so far, and with that, I knew “No Escape” was doing something really well. There is some pretty aggressive shaky cam in some scenes, mostly when the scene is meant to be chaotic and disorienting, and is nowhere near as bad as “The Hunger Games,” but it is worth noting if you don’t like that, since I don’t mind either way.

The sound also plays a key part in “No Escape.” While the score by Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders is nicely done, in many of the more intense scenes, the lack of a musical score actually makes the scene more intense and frightening, which became quite an unusual, yer incredibly successful piece of the film.

Near the end of “No Escape,” I felt the film losing some steam in its intensity, which means the film could be about 10 minutes shorter than its already medium-length 106 minute runtime. Yet, for how long the film kept me intrigued and thrilled to the edge of my seat, I can’t say that “No Escape” didn’t do its job incredibly well. Forgoing all the culturally insensitive aspects of the film that I was expecting and giving us a real nail-biter of a thriller with a message about Western Imperialism at its heart, the film also sympathizes with the opposition, rather than demonizing their cause. The film is beautifully shot, despite its grim setting, and well edited, really keeping the audience on the edge of its seat. “No Escape” is not lighthearted in any way possible, really earning its R-rating in spades. The film certainly won’t help tourism to Southeast Asia any, and it doesn’t do much in the way of diversity, “No Escape” still does its job as a thriller masterfully well, it thrills, even countless goosebumps later.

3.5/5

Photo courtesy of The Weinstein Company

Directed by: John Erick Dowdle
Starring: Owen Wilson, Lake Bell, Sterling Jerins, Claire Geare and Pierce Brosnan.
Runtime: 106 minutes
Rating: R for strong violence throughout, and for language.

The Weinstein Company presents, in association with Bold Films, a Brothers Dowdle production, “No Escape”