Escape Room - Film Review

I have a slight confession to make. When I originally first looked up Cube, I had thought that it was the same film as this one. Given the premise of both of these movies, one could hardly blame me as both are quite similar, however their execution is a bit different. In my Cube review (which you can read here), I lamented on the movie's aging special effects and figured a newer, shinier trapped-room horror film would put it to shame. With that said, I figured it would be wise to actually see the newer, shinier version so I could properly make such a judgement. I must admit that age and fancier effects aren't the only thing that separate these two films. 

1

Where You Can Find It: I viewed this on Amazon Video where it is available for purchase only, but it's also available for Starz subscribers.

General Information 
Escape Room is a psychological thriller film, which originally hit theaters on 4 January 2019. It was directed by Adam Robitel, under Columbia Pictures, with Sony Pictures distributing. It received incredibly middling reviews as it holds a 48 Metascore on Metacritic with a 51% Tomatometer via Rotten Tomatoes. Despite the mediocre reviews, it was a massive financial success as it earned over $155 million with only a relatively minor $9 million budget. Earlier in January 2021, Sony Pictures announced a sequel, Escape Room 2, will release on 7 January 2022. 

The Story

Six survivors of unconnected tragedies receive strange puzzle boxes that invite them to participate in an escape room event where the winner earns ten thousand dollars. Upon arrival, the players realize that the game's hazards and traps are very real and must work together to make it to the final exit.

2

These dudes need to survive...and that's the story

Like Cube, Escape Room's premise is incredibly basic, however I was happy to see that the characters are (mostly) more fleshed out as we get to see what many of them are like prior to the game, as well as additional information via exposition and flashbacks. The cast of characters ranges from fairly good to fairly awful as the character backgrounds range from stockbroker and ex-soldier to trucker and science nerd. I was particularly fond of Jason Walker (played by Jay Ellis) who comes off as a slightly more mellowed-out version of American Psycho's Patrick Bateman.

Although I enjoyed the protagonists for what they were, the same cannot be said for the shadowy antagonist (which I can't really name for spoiler purposes). Considering the sheer size, scale, and detail that went into the traps and puzzles the survivors face, there doesn't really seem to be any motivation behind the plot's villain. The ending provides some insight into who the antagonist is, but all the viewers essentially get is a cheap knockoff of G.I. Joe's Cobra Commander as there doesn't seem to be any drive behind why the bad guy does what they do. It genuinely feels like Escape Room's creators only focused on the film's cool puzzle rooms without ever taking into consideration why their world exists. 

Special Effects/Atmosphere

If I look beyond the impracticality of the puzzle rooms, I have to say that I really enjoyed most of them. The rooms range from a waiting room capable of literally cooking anyone unfortunate enough to be trapped inside to an icy winter wonderland equipped with a frozen lake. It all looks very polished, but this isn't necessarily a good thing as everything looks so clean and neat that it presses home the absurdity of the film's premise. To be clear: I'm not saying that movies like this need to be grimy and full of rusty barbed wire like Saw, but when everything is so fancy and presentable, it hurts the overall immersion for the viewer.

3

Sure, it looks cool, but none of it makes any sense!

Like some of Sony's other horror films, Escape Room is PG-13, which was likely decided so that it could appeal to a wider audience. Although I certainly understand this from a business perspective, I think it severely limits this film's overall direction. I feel like I could tell that Robitel wanted the freedom of an R rating as he opens the film with the one F-word he was allowed to use along with what appeared to be the grittiest death scene. The deaths of other characters were all either vague/off-screen or relatively clean (especially considering we're talking about "death"). It makes me wonder how this might have looked if Robitel had been given full creative freedom.

The Acting

Although I wasn't necessarily blown away by anyone's performance, I think most of the cast did a decent job and had fun while doing it. Tyler Labine (Mike) particularly looked like he was having a blast, and I must admit that his enthusiasm was infectious. Despite the cheesy antics of the cast, I do think that this later hurt immersion as some of the characters didn't really come off as realistic as they continued to crack jokes after learning that the traps they were encountering were quite lethal.

I'm pretty unfamiliar with most of the cast's previous work, so it was interesting looking at most of their performances with a fresh set of eyes. The only person I had previously seen was the awesome Deborah Ann Woll (Amanda), who is honestly the only actress that played her role like her character's life was in danger. It was really good to see her in something outside of the Netflix comic book shows, and I'm excited to see her in action in future productions. 

4

Woll's too busy being a badass to figure out these puzzles!

The Best of the Best: Playing a deadly game of musical chairs in an upside-down pool hall while jamming to a wonky version of Petula Clark's "Downtown."

The Worst of the Worst: The incredibly generic and absurd antagonist.

Calhooey Score: 5/10 - Mediocre

Would I Recommend?

Despite an almost identical premise, Escape Room separates itself from its trapped-room siblings like Saw and Cube in multiple ways. Despite that, some of these differences aren't necessarily good. Its poorly thought-out plot and muzzled direction leaves its end-state relatively mediocre. If you like trapped-room movies, I think you'll get some enjoyment here, but otherwise it's fairly unremarkable.

-------------------------------------------------Spoiler Comments-----------------------------------------------------

• I'm not sure if I was supposed to dislike Ben, but I was really looking forward to when the story would catch up to its opening where he dies horribly.
• Words cannot describe my disappointment that he survived being crushed by that wall.
• If you thought I was mad about the wall, just imagine my devastation when he also survived being strangled by the game master.
• Amanda was like a fusion of Deborah Ann Woll's Karen Page from Daredevil and Jon Bernthal's Punisher, which is kind of funny since Karen is in both shows.
• I feel like the decision to use body heat to warm the giant ice cube was not well thought-out. As gross as it sounds, I feel like urinating on the damn thing would've been the safest and fastest way to crack it open. Anything beats trying to warm it up with extremities like hands. 
• So let me get this straight: Jason, who is in perfect physical shape, is killed by the pot-smoking Ben with relatively minimal effort in a hand-to-hand fight? Ben's plot armor is no joke...
• Speaking of plot armor, I guess it's a good thing that the lethal gas Zoey was exposed to in the hospital room only affected her breathing (as well as dissipated shortly after). That whole trick with the oxygen mask would've been hilariously ineffective if the Puzzle Master had sprung for mustard gas.

----------------------------------------------------References--------------------------------------------------

(1) Ordona, M. (2019). Escape Room film image. Common Sense Media. Retrieved from: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/escape-room?gate=1.

(2) Gleiberman, O. (2019, January 3). Hot room image. Variety. Retrieved from: https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/escape-room-review-1203097612/.

(3) Popculturecinephile. (n.d.). Frozen puzzle room gif. Pinterest. Retrieved from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/769130442592792504/.

(4) Spotern. (n.d.). Deborah Ann Woll Escape Room image. Retrieved from: https://www.spotern.com/en/wanted/movie/escape-room/40725/the-leather-jacket-worn-by-amanda-deborah-ann-woll-in-escape-game.