Incredibly intense, No Escape is the story of a family’s desperate fight for survival in the face of extreme circumstances. When Jack Dwyer moves his wife and kids to Southeast Asia after getting a job with an American water company they get caught-up in a violent revolution and must find a way to get to the American embassy before they’re captured and killed by the street mob. Owen Wilson, Lake Bell, and Pierce Brosnan lead the cast, and give fairly good performances. And, the director uses some interesting slow motion techniques that intensify the action. Still, the pacing is rather slow in the first act, and the plot is pretty thin. Yet for a high-adrenaline chase film, No Escape works.
Here's a movie about white people being heros and Asians being savages. Harkens back to depictions of "Yellow Peril". Very problematic
No conocía esta película y comencé a verla pensando que no acabaría de verla... Para mi sorpresa, aunque no cuenta nada nuevo, me tuvo pegada a la pantalla hasta el final. Muy entretenida.
Underrated i think it deserves 7.5 on imdb..
Pretty good movie makes me rethink ever traveling to visit other countries. I also believe my tolerance for children is non existent nowadays. When parents tell you to hush, you hush, you don't ask questions. So many times I wanted to take my belt to Lucy then realized this is just a movie....that has tested my patience!
This is an action movie that grabs you and doesn't let go. A businessman moves to a 4th-world country in Asia to run the national water company, around the same time that a revolution against the government brought about by poverty ignites. The privatization of the water company is the trigger for the revolution, and thus the businessman becomes the target (along with other foreigners in the country) of a roving band of killers intent upon his death. He and his family manage to escape by crossing the border into Vietnam --- by the skin of their teeth --- with the help of the resident spy. The whole movie is his ordeal to protect his family, even while the options get fewer and fewer as the relentless rebels close in.
While the viewer is meant to sympathize with the businessman and his family, nonetheless the point of view of the revolutionaries is forcefully put forth by the spy: those who are revolting are doing it out of necessity, and the real bad guys are the foreign investor companies (and their foreign governments) who purposely lend these very poor governments money for development that they know cannot be repaid, fully expecting to take possession of the failed developments after default --- and thereby making a bundle.
A coupe of scenes in the movie are rather nerve-wrecking, and lead the viewer to an understanding of the meaning of love. The father throwing his daughters across a street into the waiting hands of his wife on a nearby rooftop --- putting them in terrible danger in order to save them from certain death... the sacrifice of the wife to distract the criminals away from her husband, leading to an attempted rape scene --- a clear act of love of a spouse for another, willing to die in order to save the other... the final kill made by the spy to protect the businessman and his family, leading to his death in the process --- another act of love, this time towards the innocent in danger of murder... the refusal of the daughter to kill her father, even as a gun is pointed at her by a sadistic criminal, and then the father's pleading to her daughter to pull the trigger in order to save her daughter --- clear displays of love between father and daughter.
And when escape is finally so close, the appearance of the Vietnamese army pointing the guns at the fleeing family making it clear that they have no permission to enter their country and that they should turn back recalls the plight of so many immigrants who must risk their skin in order to escape the terrible conditions of the countries they leave behind.
Overall, a thoughtful movie, which manages to be a truly great thriller movie at the same time.
this movie was awesome from start to finish, highly suggest everyone to see this film 10/10
Suspenseful chase thriller that is worth a watch.
Strip all the ignorance and poor research out of this one and its a good movie. This movie was not made for the South East Asian audience, but for the USA ;)
These kids in this movie are going to need major counseling.
Certainly one of the better movies I've seen in some time.
Why Owen Wilson Why? Very predictible movie
Fantastic movie, it had me on the edge of my seat all the time. great performances by everyone especially the kids.
A superb movie and an edge of seat thriller. Unbearable tension from the first to the last minute. That movie did my heart no good.
I don't think it's a bad movie, but very xenophobic, and quite offensive in the way it relates to the "third world". Sadly it's a world of savages and civil wars are not pretty, in this, they did a good work, 'cause it felt quite real and was a very tense atmosphere.
Solid action movie. Too few Brosnan scenes however, I would have liked to see him more.
I thought it was a good movie. The slow motion was a tad excessive at times, but overall it was good!
Shout by PeteVIP 6BlockedParent2021-07-29T04:02:59Z— updated 2021-08-01T07:13:45Z
This movie sat on my watchlist for 5 yrs and I finally got around to giving it a go. Whoda thunk Owen Wilson in a solid high octane thriller? Well acted, but a bit of a thin plot as explained by other reviews. Some folks have an issue w the xenophobia, but are digging in too deep. If you want to watch a family try to survive against rough odds for 95 minutes you could do worse. Just shy of the 7.5 needed to bump me to an 8. 7.4 overall for a better than expected action thriller.