Escape Plan (2013)

During the 80s and 90s, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were action movie kings.  However, up until recent years, they had never made a movie together.

I watched Stallone being interviewed by David Letterman the other day, and Stallone revealed that he and Schwarzenegger used to absolutely hate each other.  They would always have to one-up each other.  Now, I’m thinking, wouldn’t it have been great if at some point when the two actors were enemies, they actually played enemies on screen.  People definitely would have paid to see that.  I know I would have.

Something must have helped Stallone and Schwarzenegger resolve their differences because Escape Plan is the third movie that they have made together in the last three years, and the fourth one is on the way in 2014.

Escape Plan is about a prison escape artist (Sylvester Stallone) who has made a career breaking out of maximum security prisons all over the US.  One day, he gets a job offer that he cannot refuse that lands him in a prison that was built using a book that he had written as a guide to building escape-proof prisons.

The film was directed by Mikael Hafstrom and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Amy Ryan, Vincent D’Onofrio, Vinnie Jones, Matt Gerald, Faran Tahir, Sam Neill, Caitriona Balfe, and 50 Cent.

Earlier this year, Stallone and Schwarzenegger both proved that they can still be action heroes, even in their upper 60s.  Stallone did it in Bullet to the Head (2012) and Schwarzenegger did it in The Last Stand (2013).  Escape Plan was better than each of those movies.  Each actor looked better physically, and they both carried themselves very well.  Maybe it was because they were both in the film together and they continued to try to outdo each other again.  Whatever it was, it worked.

Escape Plan exceeded my expectations.  The movie was a welcome, unpredictable surprise.  It had a lot of original ideas mixed with a few classics, for old time sake.

Caviezel and Jones had very fun supporting roles.  50 Cent somehow manages to keep weaseling his way into films, and I swear that he is always trying to ruin them.  He was terrible, as usual.

It was delightful to see Sly and Ahnuld cracking skulls in the same movie.  If you were ever a fan of their movies in the past, you won’t be able to help but like this movie.

I rate this movie an 8.5 on a scale of 1-10.

Buy, rent, or run?  Buy.