![]() Six people from varied backgrounds are presented with a puzzle cube: Zoey, a physics student Jason, a wealthy daytrader Ben, a stockboy Mike, a truck driver Amanda, an Iraq War veteran and Danny, an escape room enthusiast. A sequel, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, was released on July 16, 2021. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the atmosphere and cast, but criticized the familiar plot and its failure to take full advantage of its premise. Filming took place in South Africa in late 2017 through January 2018.Įscape Room was released in the United States on January 4, 2019, by Sony Pictures Entertainment, and grossed over $155 million worldwide. The film stars Taylor Russell, Logan Miller, Deborah Ann Woll, Tyler Labine, Nik Dodani, Jay Ellis, and Yorick van Wageningen, and follows a group of people who are sent to navigate a series of deadly escape rooms.ĭevelopment of the film began in August 2017, then under the title The Maze, and the casting process commenced. but now stands tall alongside its cinematic forebears.Escape Room is a 2019 American psychological horror film directed by Adam Robitel and written by Bragi F. You take the Saw formula and deemphasize the gore and emphasize the problem solving and you get Escape Room, which began as Saw Jr. You take Point Break and swap out surfing for racing and you get a ten-movie, $6 billion-plus franchise. But if it doesn’t launch quite right and doesn’t stick the landing, that middle hour is absolutely aces in terms of what it promises and what it delivers.Įscape Room 2: Tournament of Champions is a shining example of what can happen when you take a formula and make it your own. I understand the reasoning, but the “passion play” elements are so effective that the movie ends on a note of pity more than excitement. Escape Room is a (now-two-film) franchise centered on a young Black woman “just because.”Įscape Room 2 doesn’t quite end on its best foot, spending too much time on overly elaborate wrap-up and (very slight spoiler) sequel set-up. Escape Room 2 is a good example of how horror films have long been rooted in the stories of non-white protagonists and folks of “lower” economic stature way before such onscreen diversity became a defining media-friendly talking point. While the baddies are essentially faceless corporate monsters, Taylor Russell’s Zoey Davis remains something approaching a “marquee hero,” as the entire cast offers a casual inclusivity which would cause a bazillion think pieces if it were a Disney superhero movie. And the game cast (including franchise newbies Indya Moore, Holland Roden, Thomas Cocquerel and Isabelle Fuhrman) commit to the bit, while Escape Room further sets itself apart by rooting itself in its heroes rather than its villains. Like some of the kookier Saw sequels, the traps are sometimes too clever for their own good, with circumstances that don’t give enough time for anyone to “make a choice.” Still, in terms of art direction and production design, the key locations get the job done. There’s less foreboding and grim realization as the competitors have little time to take stock in the situation or make qualitative decisions before having to avoid the next fatal countdown. The expanded and “improved” traps are almost too frantic and the pace too quick. The traps themselves are bigger, more perilous and often wonkier than from the first film. This is a horror film where the very idea of untimely death is tragic and horrific no matter how that life comes to an end. The sequel further solidifies the series as a horror franchise rooted in the avoidance of death rather than the grotesque loss of life, which makes the periodic sting of death that much more painful. While not exactly the Ted Lasso of horror films, there’s a unique optimism to watching this team of survivors relentlessly try to save each other and not just themselves. There is bruised-forearm tension regarding whether the elaborate “escape rooms” will claim a member of the cast, and genuine sadness when a victim doesn’t make it. Moreover, by not falling into an And Then There Were None template with a regularly scheduled death every ten minutes, the unpredictability of its set-ups, pay-offs and near-misses creates genuine suspense. ![]() The justly PG-13 film is almost gore-free. However, when your first film earns decent reviews, strong buzz and 17x its budget in global theatrical alone, you don’t fix what seemingly isn’t broken. I wish it were less sequel-friendly, but I expected that going in, since that was my one big qualm with the first film. But once the movie gets where you want it to go, it fires on all cylinders right up until the admittedly overwrought climax.
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