Frank Perry is an institutionalized convict fourteen years into a life sentence without parole. When his estranged daughter falls ill, he is determined to make peace with her before it’s too late. He develops an ingenious escape plan, and recruits a dysfunctional band of escapists – misfits with unique skills required for their daring plan and united by desire to escape their hell hole of an existence.
The Escapist
To be honest, I’ve been searching high and low for this film since it’s release back in 2008. It never made it to North America, even though it had a very positive review at Sundance in 2008. For some reason, it was shelved from North America, but had numerous showings in the middle east, Europe and even Asia.
That being said, even the DVD was impossible to find. I had to order it from an out of market source. Is that crazy? I mean, I usually get movies sent to me for free, but I had to search this one out.
Back to The Escapist, a film I quite enjoyed and can say was worth the work to get. I loved the character Brian Cox played, that aged and respected prison veteran who is beyond the stages of taking shit from anyone. His plan is masterful, his crew loyal and determined to make it out as well.
We never find out why any of the are in prison, maybe that’s for the best. No side story to get us distracted from the main issue at hand. Maybe that’s why The Escapist was fun, because there isn’t too much BS here.
The film runs quickly without much dead time. You get what they are trying to do, why and how almost immediately. Great, it’s about time the writers stopped treating us like idiots, just get to the point and lets move on.
The escape itself was pretty suspenseful, reminded me of Prison Break from time to time. I don’t mean that in a bad way, I mean it in a season 1 Prison Break sort of way.
Brian Cox is stellar , and Joseph Lewis plays the role of ‘new fish’ perfectly. I often wondered why he was in prison, actually I really wondered why he and Frank were doing so much time. It’s odd it didn’t matter though, you wanted them to succeed regardless.
The Action
Plenty of action in this movie. Besides the actual escape, there are a few pretty decent fights and creative moments while they are on the run.
Why should I watch it?
The acting and characters are fantastic, especially Damian Lewis who played Maj. Richard D. Winters in Band Of Brothers. You remember him right? Also, the escape itself is brilliant and well put together.
What’s bad about it?
If you go into the film thinking The Escapist compares to The Shawshank Redemption, you’ll be disappointed.
You’ll Like It If
If you are in the mood for a good prison escape, The Escapist is perfect.
What I learned
The walls around prisons are often soft and corroded.
The Verdict
The Escapist was a real treat, better than I expected and is the Prison Break of straight to DVD films. I’m disappointed it never had a release in North America, I think they are missing a big audience. Find it, watch it, you’ll love it.
