Netflix Review: No Escape (2015)

"What a crazy, intense ride."

I remember when this movie came out back in the Summer of 2015, and having no desire to see it. Not sure why, it just seemed like it was going to be cheesy... which is odd because I really liked the Dowdle Brother's previous films like As Above, So Below, Devil, and The Poughkeepsie Tapes, so maybe I should have given it a bit more credit at the time.



Shame on me for not doing so, because after browsing through Netflix for something to watch tonight, we came across No Escape, and decided to give it a go... and we're still catching our breath.

American businessman Jack Dwyer has just moved his family to an unnamed Southeast Asian country, too work for a company called Cardiff, who is there to bring clean drinking water to the people of the region. Unbeknownst to him, Cardiff has pissed off the locals, who think that they've shadily stolen their clean drinking water, and so they decide to rise up against the company, and kill everyone who works for them in protest.

"YES HONEY, EVERYONE HATES WHITE PEOPLE."

Marked for death by a massive mob of bloodthirsty locals, Jack and his hot wife (and two adorable kids) must do some crazy shit to survive, and even with the help of a saucy British ex-pat and Kenny Rogers (true story), there's pretty much no way that any of them are going to survive.



Butt-puckering action ensues.

THERE'S A LOT OF RUNNING INVOLVED TOO. A LOT.

It's not often that an action thriller has us on the edge of our seats, literally, but I'll be damned if No Escape didn't have us biting our nails, holding our breath, and yelling at the screen for just about its entire runtime. This was a taut and scary movie, and it wasn't shy with the violence at all, most of which played in realistic fashion.



The Dowdle Borthers have a knack for making effective, under-the-radar movies that end up being far better than they have a right to, and No Escape might be their best effort to date. Their cast is top-notch, which probably helps: Pierce Brosnan steals every scene he's in as Hammond; the British "spy" who is as charming as he is deadly. Owen Wilson plays the ordinary, everyday guy as well as he always does, which isn't a bad thing, but he's outshined by Lake Bell as his wife... which might just be because she's hot. Not sure. Either way, she's really likable, and so we like her better!



This movie could have been a run-of-the-mill effort, and we expected it to be, but The Dowdle Brothers managed to give us characters we care about trying to survive a horrific situation, and they did it about as well as any thriller in recent memory has.

LIKE A BOSS.

It's interesting too note that a lot of the negative reviews that I saw about this movie deride it for being racist, because the lives of a white family were made out to be so valuable, and the Asians who led the bloody uprising that the family was trying to escape were painted as bloodthirsty and violent. Because that kind of thing doesn't actually ever happen in third world countries.



And did these idiot critics not see the local people tying to help the family?



It aggravates the shit out of me that everything today is sexist, racist, homophobic, patriarchal, etc... simply because people need to see what they need to see in things, to justify their agendas, or special little feelings.



It was a fictional thriller, assholes, that mimics real-life in some ways, and it didn't paint a negative picture of any particular people at all.

ALSO, HOLY SHIT THIS SCENE...

The uprising leads to many people being butchered in bloody fashion. It's definitely not for the squeamish.

THE DEER HUNTER, FAMILY STYLE.

Unfortunately, no, and as hot as Lake Bell is, it's a crying shame.

"WE WON'T MAKE IT IF YOU DON'T TAKE OF YOUR TOP!"

If you want to see a thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat for its entire runtime, as predictable as some of it may be, then No Espace is one you should check out asap. We're glad we finally caught it after so long, and we can't wait to see what The Dowdle Brothers do next.



No Escape is streaming now on Netflix, or you can grab a copy below. 

Lake Bell is still stunning.