2008 Directed by Rupert Wyatt
Frank Perry is an institutionalized convict twelve years into a life sentence without parole. When his estranged daughter falls ill, he is determined to make peace with her before it's too late. He develops an ingenious escape plan, and recruits a dysfunctional band of escapists - misfits with a mutual dislike for one other but united by their desire to escape their hell hole of an existence.
The Escapist: Prison Escape, Ultime Evasion, Prison Escape, The Escapist - Raus aus der Hölle, El escapista, Ultime Évasion, Побег из тюрьмы, Menekülők, Τάσεις Φυγής, אמן הבריחה, A Fuga, O Escapista, 이스케피스트, Bėglys, 逃狱, Põgenejad, Втеча з в'язниці
Ireland15A
UK15
USANR
France
Germany16
Greece16
AustraliaMA15+
Australia
France
Germany
Greece
Ireland
UK
USA
There are some films you can't judge correctly until the entire film is done. You know what I mean. That film that has you wondering why it is so highly rated and then all of a sudden something happens and you get it, and you are glad you stuck with it because wow, at the end of the day, it was terrific.
The Escapist is like that, only better because it is good right from the beginning. Not great, but good. There is a really nice back and forth between the future and the past that elevates it, but it is still just a good and interesting story of guys breaking out of prison. But when it ends, when it…
The World Is More Than Enough - 30 Countries In 30 Days Challenge (13 / 30) - United Kingdom
After making a pig's ear of choosing a decent film from Canada to watch in this challenge, I was nervous about my UK selection as, once again, I had a whole heap of stuff to choose from.
I'm not even sure why I arrived at choosing The Escapist. I've had it on DVD for years and I'm a huge fan of Brian Cox, but I'm fairly sure that wouldn't have been enough for me to choose this. Whatever the reason, I'm very glad that I did because I would have struggled tohave found a film much better than this. This is,…
I went to this hoping for just a really enjoyable prison flick with actors I really like (Cox, Cooper, Lewis) from a director I'm starting to like (Rupert Wyatt; Rise of the Apes).
I got a lot more than I bargained for. I got...
Not just really good, but excellent performances.
A film that's surprisingly more complex and clever than a prison flick needed to be.
A GOOD performance from Joseph Fiennes, who surprisingly didn't ruin the film for me. Who knew the guy had one in him?
A small appearance from WWE's own Sheamus, which was weird and random, but somehow worked.
This film may not have it all, but it sure as hell has more than you would expect.
A greasy, dusty, morose little piece of prison business that would've slotted perfectly into a mid-summer mid-70s release, probably starring Jon Voight with a terrible mustache.
Startlingly similar to Paddington 2.
84/100
What a surprise this one was. It had been rotting away in my instant queue for the better part of a year, because I had heard good things but feared a standard protocol prison movie. I was way off...this was full of soul, imagination, and a story that constantly surprised me.
This is a hard one to review, because the highlight of the movie and what makes it so special is the way it ends. The last ten minutes or so of the movie really change how you have viewed everything up to that point. It was a real punch to the gut...absolutely loved the way they did it.
It's like Shawshank Redemption - lite version. It doesn't delve…
Surprisingly solid. The cast is stacked with some of my favorite English/scottish/Irish actors. Full of good tension throughout. It’s hard for me to hate on a prison escape movie. It’s just intense and entertaining.
Wasn’t too big on the ending but it was solid overall.
For me it isn't a given that a prison film grabs me, especially one that involves the tried and tested route of the prison break. This film, however, is no ordinary prison break film at all.
This is an actor's film and Brian Cox owns this film from start to finish. His performance gives this film depth and meaning. He is mesmerizing in every scene he is in.
The script is clever. I first thought the jumps through time would be annoying, but they weren't because director Wyat paces it perfectly and has a few wonderful tricks up his sleeve. He runs a tight ship and gets some amazing performances out of his cast.
This is a film that transcends the prison genre tropes beautifully and cleverly, which makes it an instant favorite of mine.
Decent prison movie with badass character actor Brian Cox and a wallop of an ending.
This movie is a bit hard to classify, as it crosses several genres. It is, essentially, a prison escape flick (as advertised), but there's quite a bit more to it. The performances are excellent and they manage to create multidimensional characters that you genuinely care for. I like the ending and how it changed the perspective of things, but overall the story was way too far-fetched. The director chose "style over substance" approach on too many occasions, and the prison itself was just unrealistic. Still, it's a competent effort, with a complex plot structure that holds up despite the shortcomings.
The first ten minutes of The Escapist left me wondering if I was going to make it to the end of this film. Now I’m wondering if that was by design. Despite its inauspicious beginnings the film proved to a well-crafted prison escape tale with richer-than-expected characters. I love POW and prison escape films and this is as good as any other. I particularly liked the cross-cutting between the escape attempt and the formulation of the escape plan. The big reveal at the end could have fallen flat, but I actually found that I cared enough about the characters at that point to be more sad for the loss than annoyed at the cleverness.
