Escape Room
Man, these fun houses are starting to get out of hand.
Cast of Characters:
Zoey – Taylor Russell
Ben Miller – Logan Miller
Amanda Harper – Deborah Ann Woll
Mike – Tyler Labine
Jason Walker – Jay Ellis
Danny – Nik Dodani
The Gamemaster – Yorick van Wageningen
Director – Adam Robitel
Screenplay – Bragi F. Schut & Maria Melnik
Producer – Neal H. Moritz & Ori Marmur
Rated PG-13 for terror/perilous action, violence, some suggestive material and language.
In Chicago, six strangers – physics major Zoey (Taylor Russell), stock room clerk Ben (Logan Miller), army vet Amanda (Deborah Ann Woll), trucker Mike (Tyler Labine), stockbroker Jason (Jay Ellis) and escape room addict Danny (Nik Dodani) – each receive a mysterious invitation to the Minos Escape Room, where a reward of $10,000 will be given to the one who solves the puzzle.
You know of any college kid or grocery stocker that would turn that down? I don’t either, so let the games begin.
While it seems like fun and games at first, the six soon realize that they are trapped in what is essentially a giant killing machine, with each subsequent escape room turning deadlier and deadlier as they go. If any them wish to see the light of day again, they must figure out all the clues to the puzzle, or else they’ll die.
Boy, that escalated quickly.
Hey, everybody! Guess what? It’s the first week of January, and you know what that means? It means lousy horror films the studios don’t give a frog’s fat ass about ’cause they’re too busy making their “For Your Consideration” pushes to the Oscar voters. This has become as much a time-honored tradition as Christmas’s 24-hour A Christmas Story marathon. The only difference, though, is these cheap horror films can be so God awful that, unlike Ralphie, you’ll be begging for a chance to shoot both your eyes out.
However, in recent years, January has actually been stepping it up a bit. Just a bit, mind you, but stepping it up nevertheless. We’ve had both Paddington movies released in January, M. Night Shyamalan’s Split, 12 Strong and Insidious: The Last Key wasn’t bad for being a fourth entry in its horror franchise. So, while there are still plenty of January examples to give us much understandable pause, there have been others that turned out okay, good, even great. Hell even Michael Bay put out a pretty good movie in January with 13 Hours.
Yeah… Michael Bay.
Given its rise in popularity in recent years, a concept revolving around escape room games was bound to happen, with director Adam Robitel being brought on to helm the project. Robitel previously directed the aforementioned Insidious: The Last Key, and while my comments on that may have come off like damning with faint praise, his directorial debut The Taking of Deborah Logan is a genuinely creepy effort that best showcases his skill in crafting unnerving suspense. Between Robitel and the trendy premise, there’s no reason to believe January can’t deliver another pleasant surprise.
One can only hope.
The Good: Though it’s undeniably running on the overused slasher movie formula of guessing which order the generic characters die, for a good portion of its runtime, Escape Room moves at a brisk, energetic pace. Once the obligatory character setups are out-of-the-way, and the games start, Robitel creates an effective sense of urgency as the six contestants scramble to solve the clues to each puzzle. Sure, you’ll have to suspend every ounce of logic possible, but there is some fun to be had if you’re willing to do so.
Part of the fun of this film is the way Robitel constructs the escape room sequences, most notably the first three. It’s during those moments that Escape Room is at its best, and Robitel employs some nifty techniques in order to sustain the tension. The marquee sequence, taking place inside a creatively designed, upside down pool room, shines the brightest light on the director’s craft, utilizing shifting perspectives and some dazzling camerawork as a means to keep viewers on edge.
While none of the performances stand out, the cast still do a fine job with what they’re given, which is characters that barely rise above one dimension caricatures. The names may not stand out, but there might be a few recognizable faces, namely Tyler Labine (Tucker & Dale vs. Evil), Logan Miller (Love, Simon) and Deborah Ann Woll (Netflix’s Daredevil and The Punisher), the latter of whom gets a brief but great spotlight during that aforementioned pool room sequence. They’re not pushing for anything deeper than surface level, but that’s also not asked of them here, and each nevertheless acquit themselves solidly in spite of writers Bragi F. Schut & Maria Melnik’s character shortcomings.
The Bad: Without spoiling anything, during the opening scene, Schut and Melnik mistakenly opt for a flash-forward scene that ultimately reveals the later outcome of one particular character, thereby removing a decent amount of the mystery behind which characters stay or go. It’s a testament to Robitel’s skill that he still manages to generate some thrills during the game sequences, yet it’s a shame that much of the “Who lives and who dies?” suspense goes out the window due to the film’s needless introduction.
The major drawback, however, is that following that great segment in the pool room, Escape Room begins to lose its luster, dropping the puzzle-solving element for a third-act that resorts to being just another ho-hum body-count thriller. When who or what behind the games is revealed to the surviving contestants, the truth will elicit more yawns than gasps. Robitel possesses a lot of talent as a director, but it feels as if even he is just going through the motions once the mask gets pulled back.
The Ugly: Nothing screams copping out of answering the questions you’ve established more loudly than the lazy, shoehorned sequel setup. Escape Room not only telegraphs its setup for a sequel, it shamelessly flashes its franchise intentions like a burst of light crackling with enough blisteringly bright energy to rival the sun. It’s not so much the setup itself that derails the film, but the way it goes about it. There’s all this buildup to the mystery behind this game, particularly surrounding one supposedly pivotal name, but just when it appears that we’ve been given the answers, the movie pulls the rug out from under us, shifting the story so abruptly in its final two scenes it will give the entire theater audience whiplash.
I guess it could be worse. It’s not Texas Chainsaw 3D or The Forest or Norm of the North, but dammit, when January starts to spoil you with great Paddington movies and Shyamalan return to forms like Split, your expectations start to rise.
Consensus: Escape Room does boast creative set pieces and some stylish, energy-infused direction from Adam Robitel, but it’s ultimately let down by a disappointing third-act that’s more invested in a ridiculous push for a franchise than solving any of its own questions.
Silver Screen Fanatic’s Verdict: I give Escape Room a C+ (★★½).
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