8/10
2013
A Mikael Håfström Film
Protagonist(s): Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Faran Tahir
Antagonist(s): Jim Caviezel, Vinnie Jones
Run-time: 1 hour 55 minutes
A professional escape artist who tests prison security for a fee suddenly finds himself in the assignment of a lifetime; escaping from a prison based on his design.
A classical buddy film where the main characters cannot stand one another to start with have to cooperate to have any hope of getting through their adverse conditions alive.
This is the first real film where the two ageing action heroes co-star rather than having bit parts or cameos or semi-cryptic references to one another, and I believe it was about time. Their age and physical fitness cannot much longer support any film roles outside the 'Odd Couple' type films where a pair of ancient men try to compete for the same woman or some such plot. I challenge Misters Schwarzenegger and Stallone to prove me wrong.
The plot is fairly simple, and in hindsight most of the observations and escape elements are fairly obvious or impossible to manage with the means available to them. There are several leaps of logic, but they happen in such a way that there is little time to question it before some event occurs to distract us.
The team which was supposed to support Mr Stallone's character were remarkably ineffective despite how professional they were supposed to be, and it appears to me that someone felt that Mr Curtis "50 cent" Jackson should have a small part and simply added a few scenes where he could flaunt his verbal skills whilst wearing a suit.
The action sequences are decent, the exchange of barbs and defiance are old school but effective, and the effects are good.
I recommend this film for anyone who has enjoyed the epic action careers of these two actors since the eighties, but will warn anyone intending to see this film that there is very little in the way of romance.
No comments:
Post a Comment