Movie Review: No Escape

When was the last time Owen Wilson running to save his life? On screen, Owen Wilson may have enacted this drama many times. I can only remember one interesting movie with this theme. Behind Enemy Lines. Teaming up with Gene Hackman, the film, depicting the escape of a young flight officer from the enemy territory, turned out to be a good action movie. In this film too, Owen Wilson is trapped in a similar situation. Jack Dwyer played by Owen Wilson lands in an unnamed Asian country referred casually as the fourth world. He is accompanied by his family who has been uprooted from Texas to the unnamed Asian country after Jack's latest venture goes belly up. But the misfortune is following Jack as there is a coup in the country and the rebels are killing all westerners.

John Erick Dowdle, who directs and also co-writes this drama, focuses on the helplessness of people trapped in challenging situations. The protagonists are in an unknown country where the culture and language are different. They do not know whom to trust. How do you keep oneself alive in such situation? Instead of focusing on action, the director concentrates on the human emotions. We also see the extent to which a man can change to keep his family alive. We see a family united under stress and how they come out of all of this in one piece. They may be scarred, but they are alive. They do get outside help in the form of Pierce Brosnan in a short role. This role is a caricature of the Western evil which is now sorry for creating the mess. We might not have any sympathy towards this character. But he definitely will make us smirk.

At the end of the day, it is Owen Wilson and Lake Bell as Jack's wife who stands out. Owen Wilson is not in his goofy avatar. We get to see the serious side of the actor in here. Overall it is a good watch when you want to see a predictable movie with decent acting.

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Rating: ***