Escape Room
ESCAPE ROOM (15)
D: Adam Robitel
Sony/Columbia/Original Film (Neal H. Moritz & Ori Marmur)
USA 🇺🇸 2019
100 mins
Horror/Thriller
W: Bragi F. Schut & Maria Melnik
DP: Marc Spicer
Ed: Steven Mirkovich
Mus: Brian Tyler & John Carey
Taylor Russell (Zoey), Logan Miller (Ben), Jay Ellis (Jason), Deborah Ann Woll (Amanda), Tyler Labine (Mike), Nik Dodani (Danny)
A group of strangers are invited to participate in an Escape Room challenge which they initially believe to be fun and games, where the winner stands to win $10,000, but the intricate puzzle rooms swiftly turn into a matter of life or death where their greatest fears are manifested.
There's a pinch of character development before the thrills, with backstory unfolding as they make their way deeper into the deadly labyrinth, but it's fair to say that there's more focus on character in this movie than most modern horror films.
Limited by a lower age rating for the set pieces, they manage to be nail biting enough if you suspend your disbelief of logistics & science, which is quite easy to do due to the intricate production design.
The last third of the film does a disservice to all that preceded as it descends into nonsense, especially the final scene which feels as though it was tagged on by a studio who want them sweet sequel bucks. Still, I personally found it much more entertaining than I expected it to be.
5/10
ESCAPE ROOM 2: TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONSÂ (15)
D: Adam Robitel
Sony/Columbia/Original Film (Neal H. Moritz)
USA 🇺🇸 2021
88 mins
Horror/Thriller
W: Will Honley, Maria Melnik, Daniel Tuch & Oren Uziel
DP: Marc Spicer
Ed: Steven Mirkovich & Peter Pav
Mus: Brian Tyler & John Carey
Taylor Russell (Zoey), Logan Miller (Ben), Deborah Ann Woll (Amanda), Holland Roden (Rachel), Indya Moore (Brianna), Thomas Cocquerel (Nathan)
It was obvious from the end of the first film that a sequel was to be in the works, and this was squeezed out without a moment to waste, recycling the plot from the first film as the survivors are once again placed in an intricate maze of rooms that will kill them unless they find the way out.
Though the first film was far from a classic, I did have some fun with it, especially with the production design and inventiveness in the escape rooms and the same applies to this sequel, unfortunately that’s where the similarities end.
This is a very lazy sequel, one which casts aside character development and the arcs built up in the first film and practically does the same thing over, even managing to shove in a pathetic plot twist that only serves to make the original film worse as a result.
It didn’t bode well from the offset, which summarised the first film during the credits sequence for the benefit of those that haven’t watched it, which kind of proves the point that this is a sequel for monetary gain only, rather than presenting a coherent story.
This is so lazy, it even reuses the same ending from the first film, so it’s quite clear that the studio are trying to make a franchise out of this. I think I’ll make an escape from this series sooner rather than later if this follow up is anything to go by.
3/10
