The latest film from director/writer John Erick Dowdle tells the story of American everyman Jack Dwyer, played by Owen Wilson. He moves his reluctant family to an unnamed country in Southeast Asia so he can work on a project to supply clean drinking water to the people. Things take a gruesome turn when Jack goes out for a newspaper and runs right into the crossfire of an insurrection, in which the natives are brutally murdering every foreigner they can get their hands on. The poor innocent Dwyer family are prime targets, and spend the rest of the movie trying to escape to safety. In terms of plot, that’s basically it.
Wilson is surprisingly convincing in his unconventionally serious role, although you do almost expect him to start spouting lines from Zoolander. Lake Bell, who is also more of a comic actor, delivers a strong performance as Jack’s whimpering but semi-capable wife Annie. Sterling Jerins and Claire Geare manage to be both cute and incredibly annoying as the couple’s children, simultaneously weighing their parents down and raising the stakes.
The reasons for the uprising are briefly explained towards the end of the film – Western companies such as Jack’s have been exploiting the nation and its citizens for profit, all the while projecting the impression that they are the good guys. This seems like a pretty legitimate thing to be angry about, yet the rebels are continually presented as an anonymous mob of bloodthirsty savages. We get the impression that cultural narcissism and colonialism are only important when they affect nice white people.
Since Jack is essentially just a gormless businessman who likes Dad jokes and arguing about rice cookers with his wife, most of the action falls to Pierce Brosnan’s character. He plays a sleazy world traveller with terrible dress sense and a stage-Cockney accent. From the moment the Dwyer family meet him on the plane, the audience can tell that there is more to this ‘mysterious’ man than would appear. Sure enough, it turns out that he works for the British CIA or “something like that” – it’s never quite clear. Frankly, he is terrible.
Despite its many flaws, No Escape is actually very effective as a nerve-jangling thriller. The tension rarely lets up as the Dwyer family jump from rooftops, crouch in hiding places, and physically fight for their lives. Cheesy slow-motion sequences abound, but the camera work has a gritty, visceral feel which really places the audience within the story. There may be ‘no escape’ from the xenophobia of this survival film, but it’s an undeniably solid and intense crowd-pleaser.
Kayla Walsh
