[DVD Review (R2)] THE ESCAPIST
Much of the ‘punchline’ to Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz was that the UK doesn’t “do” action thrillers. We’re a nation of costume dramas, Mike Leigh movies and breakout “working class” comedies in the vein of The Full Monty or Calender Girls. But action thrillers is something we don’t have an eye (or a proper budget) for allegedly. Look back to 1997 when the Paul McGann British movie Downtime was released. Heavily hyped as “Die Hard in a lift” it came and went to ‘some’ acclaim, but mostly universal mocking at the fact that the UK’s attempt to do a claustrophic, down and dirty, minimal action thriller was kind of… well… wanky!
Somebody forget to tell Rupert Wyatt that the UK doesn’t “do” action thrillers. And thank God they did eh? Because otherwise we’d have been deprived this little slice of near-perfection. Two shades shy of a masterpiece, if I’d caught this last year as I wanted to (screwed over as it was by a horrible distribution agenda) it would have firmly landed in my Top Five movies of the year. Regardless of anything else relating to The Escapist, it is yet more evidence of the fact that Brian Cox is absolutely incapable of giving a bad performance in ANYTHING and his work here could be my personal favourite out of everything he’s done. And boy has he done a lot!
The Escapist follows Frank Perry (Brian Cox), an institutionalised convict twelve years into a life sentence without parole. When his estranged daughter falls ill and doesn’t look like she will pull through, 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 (Liam Cunnigham, Dominic Cooper, Joseph Fiennes and Seu Jorge) – misfits with a mutual dislike for one other but united by their desire to escape their hell hole of an existence – to help him. But nothing goes down behind the walls of this prison without ‘the man’ Rizza (Damian Lewis) saying it’s okay, and that could be the gang’s undoing.
Wyatt has made a movie of absolute stellar visual originality – it presents a prison which is sort of this bastardisation of old antiquated jails of the 20s and 30s with a strangely, slight, futuristic feel too. On top of that the narrative is manipulated so you see the break-out occuring whilst learning how the plan was hatched and the team put together, which undoubtedly gives the whole hackneyed “prison break” movie a fresher feel then normal.
Admittedly the only reason for the twisted narrative structure is to support the ‘twist’ and it’s this ‘twist’ aspect that provides the film with its only flaw – I just didn’t take to it! I thought it immensely cheapened everything that had gone before it and, on second viewing, it aggravated me about as much as the turgid notion of “It was all just a dream!” (I’m looking at you Devil’s Advocate). I get, thematically, what Wyatt and co were trying to do and what they were wanting to say but I feel there was other ways he could have concluded his theme without going down the route he does.
But a bad ending does not make a bad movie. It simply staves it off from being a fully rounded masterpiece. The direction, the sense of assurance in its set-pieces and the performances all make this very much worthy of your time. The title cards and music create a confident, fully realised tone that puts you in the exact mindset you need to be in for the film and Brian Cox leads the charge with a performance that just confirms him once and for all as one of the most consistent, great actors working in the industry right now. As disappointing as the ending might be, no one can deny that Cox doesn’t do his best to sell it and pull at your heartstrings.
I urge you to check out The Escapist. It’s one of the best British films I have seen in a long time and, if you’re a Shawshank Redemption fan who wanted more escape, less friendship-stuff, then this is the movie for you! A genuine treat!
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