Hello, moviegoers! This time I am here to introduce... Escape Room!
Escape Room is one of those movies in which a reduced cast of characters is locked up in an isolated environment, nobody knows what is going on, the
place they are trapped in is killing them all one by one, and the details of the story surface slowly on the go.
At least, that is the theory.
Let's be honest here, but this concept has been done to death already. Cube (1997) already demonstrated that you could build enough of a movie with around half a dozen actors, and a budged barely sufficient to buy a box of chewing gum. There are others who have tried similar formulas and succeeded (like The Exam 2009, in which the room didn't kill anybody, sadly). Is there really room for yet another one of these films?
Let's find out.
In Escape Room, six people who keep no relation to each other receive a mysterious invitation to participate in a newl¤y built Escape Room. I could already tell from the initial scenes that this movie was going to be so-so at best. The visuals, production values and such seemed fine, but there was this small thing going on....
Isolation movies usually work well because they keep suspense. They make you care for the characters and then theystart killing them. You are left rooting for some character and suffering every scene, because you don't know if your's is going to live.
The problem with Escape Room is that the characters either actively suck, or have nothing interesting going for them. In addition, you get an accurate idea of who the movie wants you to like from the start, which makes you predict who is the one who is going to survive. This really sets the movie back.
One thing they did right was to try to have an inclusive cast. They ensured everybody but the useless white male is a token minority member. Unfortunately, none of them was a native American, and there were no openly transexual or homosexual characters, so I expect this movie to be boicotted and trashed for these gross mistakes despite the fact they tried. Also I am offended because there was no Spaniard who identifies himself as a horse.
So, what are we left in this sort of movie when we are given no reason to care for the characters? Only two things: the puzzles they have to solve, and the story as to why the characters got locked in.
As soon as the characters enter the Escape Room, it becomes apparent the Escape Room is there to kill them. The first room turns out to be a giant oven which will roast'em alive unless they figure out the puzzle whose solution allows to escape to the next room. In essence, this is the basic mechanic of the movie: move into room, the room presents a threat, the characters solve the puzzle to move on and every now and then somebody dies. None of the puzzles is groundbreaking, but they are serviceable as far as entertaining the audience goes.
The film throws us some flashbacks every now and then in order to let us know who the characters are, but character development is poor. In fact, the movie does not throw many clues as to why the characters were invited to the killer roomor what they have in common. Thankfully, this happens late in the movie.
Why do I say "thankfully?" Because when the underlaying plot is revealed, it ends up being so childish, clich‚ cringeworthy and stupid that you realize nothing in this movie has any solid justification.
I say this as a guy who thinks a movie in which a villian puts people in trap rooms to make them appreciate their lives more has a solid justification.
The My Little Pony movie had villians with solid reasons for their actions. Heck, there was a My Little Movie episode in which the ponies try to find out who took a bite from a cake, and the gal who took the bite from the cake had a stronger justification than the Escape Room architects had.
It **IS** that cringeworthy.
Worst yet, I had ran out of bourbon when it hit, so I had no more alcohol to swallow the rest of the film with.
At that point the whole film unravels and you end up watching the rest of it by inertia only. If you are brave enough. To add insult to injury, it ends up with a sequel-baiting cliffhanger, suggesting they are going to try to make yet another one.
So:
Socially inclusive cast of forgettable characters gets put in a puzzle building that is bent on killing them, you keep watching because the puzzles are mildly interesting, and the movie limps along until THE BIG REVEAL, at which point you feel robbed of your time.
The onl¤y room you must escape from is the room in which anybody dares to play this movie.
--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
---
þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL