It’s hard to believe 10 years have passed since Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger shared the screen together in Escape Plan (initially titled The Tomb) as I remember it like it was just a few weeks ago.
The story centers around Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone) who knows how to infiltrate a prison — and bust out of one. His latest job leads to a double-cross, leaving him stuck in a high-tech facility with the worst that society has to offer. Luckily for Ray, he meets Emil Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger), an inmate who secretly helps him hatch a plot to win his freedom. Only sadistic warden Hobbes (Jim Caviezel) stands in the way of the two men successfully making it out alive.
I think it remains one of the better movies of either action star both in the twilight of their careers as it delivers everything you could want from an Arnie/Sly team up. We get one-liners, fist fights, an engaging story and an explosive finale filled with shoot-outs and brutal kills. I love the moment when Arnie turns in slow motion with the gun and you know he’s about to unleash absolute carnage and it just transports me right back to the 80’s.
The villains are especially memorable here with Jim Caviezel playing the warden Hobbs and Vinnie Jones as his even nastier henchman Drake who takes great pleasure in making Breslin’s life Hell. Then we have the always great Vincent D’Onofrio as the two-faced Lester Clark and then Sam Neill as the potential ally Dr. Kyrie.
The performances all round are solid with Arnie nearly stealing the show; it’s cool to hear him speak in his native tongue as well which we rarely get to see in his movies. He and Sly have such great on-screen chemistry I wish that in their prime they made some kind of buddy movie as that could have been classic.
Escape Plan is well paced for the most part although the movie is at its best whrn both Arnold and Sly are sharing the screen together.
Escape Plan inspired 2 Straight to Video sequels which didn’t get amazing reviews but I still enjoyed them for Stallone’s mere presence.
After 10 years Escape Plan is a rather underrated action thriller with Arnold and Sly both proving they still had what it takes to be the best action stars in the business. It’s got plenty of action, classic one-liners (“you hit like a vegetarian!”) and decent performances making it still a hugely entertaining actioner.
