Escape Room

This review may contain spoilers!

While I didn't think Escape Room was a very good film, I did really enjoy the cast and how it made an effort to do something unique in the thriller genre. I would give Escape Room a 4/10.

Escape Room is about a group of six strangers looking to score the 10 grand a company is offering in exchange for trialing its latest escape room; however, things take a turn for the nasty when this group realises they have been lured into a game of life or death. I really thought a film that followed the idea of an escape room would be tacky I was surprised by how creative this concept got. A lot of the death traps were thrilling to watch and each sequence seemed to really challenge the characters. Furthermore, the film really took some time for you to get to know each of the characters; none of those assembled really felt expendable which is a fine trait in a film such as this. This film thrives on the set up, building intrigue and making you puzzle what could be revealed in the future making the first act one of the strongest. The cinematography is absolutely great, taking full advantage to show you all aspects of a death trap, yet playing closely to the characters too so you can understand how they're reacting at all times. The special effects for the some of the death scenes is well done, and I have to say that the production design was actually very accomplished for a film that only cost 9 million dollars.

Taylor Russell, who played Zoey Davis, makes for a great protagonist throughout this feature; I really admired how Russell took such an uncertain and timid role and developed her confidence and courage in the face of trying circumstances. Logan Miller, who played Ben Miller, really feels like this hollow shell of a person which is perfect considering the experience his character lived through; Miller seems withdrawn for a lot of the film but he displays a strong moral compass and provides a nice sense of humour to the piece. Jay Ellis, who played Jason Walker, is a very self-centred role who powers over a lot of the other characters in this piece; Ellis portrays an individual who is so motivated by his own self-interests that he drives himself further and further from the needs of the group as the narrative moves along. Deborah Ann Woll, who played Amanda Harper, is probably the toughest member of the cast; Woll shows the trauma her character has gone through in a very powerful moment but she also feels like the most capable individual in a number of her scenes.

However, the best performance came from Tyler Labine, who played Mike Nolan. Labine is a performer who seems capable of providing an abundance of charisma in any scene he is in. This is just a very likeable role who doesn't seem even remotely close to a stereotype you would have seen in this type of film before; instead you have an individual who comes across as rather grounded. There are several scenes in which this character goes to the effort of doing anything he can to aid the others, ultimately leading to the expense of his own life. This is a character who you love to love through and through and Labine owns that every step of the way.

 While the film does do really strongly with the set up and makes some powerful creative decisions this isn;t really enough to steer it away from some obvious problems. The entire structure of the film is pushing our main cast from one room to the next in which there will always be a puzzle-based danger and a main cast member will die in all but the first room. There isn't a lot new to explore here and when the younger performers make it through to the final stage that isn't much of a surprise either. Meanwhile, the backstory to the film's main plot that we're given grows more and more convoluted as we're fed the story of a secret organisation who gambles upon groups of people surviving till the end of escape room. The film also shamelessly spends a solid 10 to 15 minutes at the end plugging and pitching a sequel to the audience when it hasn't even really achieved an impressive conclusion to the current feature. The score for the film sticks out in some places but for the most part its a technological drone that gets fairly repetitive to listen to.

Nik Dodani, who played Danny Khan, is a pretty overbearing role among the main cast; Dodani delivers Khan as a rather obnoxious know-it-all about escape rooms which makes him in charge of spouting off a serious amount of exposition. Yorick van Wageningen, who played Games Master WooTan Yu, is a seriously underwhelming antagonist to be revealed in the final act; a lot of the film set up the big reveal of who the Games Master might be but the introduction of van Wageningen meant that the final escape dissolved into a simple fist/gun struggle.