MovieChat Forums > Escape Plan (2013) Discussion > This film confused the hell out of me. W...

This film confused the hell out of me. What did I just watch?

posted 11 years ago by rabbitmoon
13 replies | jump to latest

(spoilers ahead)

1) So Arnie basically hires an escape artist to help him escape. Despite all the clever details of Stallone's escapes, they escape via diversion/brute force. This makes little sense - its a prison for society's worst, there would surely be riots all the time.

2) Maximum security? I don't see (and its never really explained) why this prison is more secure than another (you know, made of actual concrete rather than sheets of steel with removable rivets). They weren't even given the equivalent of the intestinators (Fortress) or neck braces (Running Man) to allow for remote immobilisation. The guards wore stupid (and pointless) masks that would surely obscure their vision. How was Stallone able to see the doctor so often, unrestrained? He could have snapped his neck at any point, and why wouldn't he, these prisoners are knowingly in some bizarre illegal place where they're denied rights, legal council or a chance of ever getting out. Small metal rivets that pop out of an isolation cell if they get too warm? A large laddered tunnel beneath each isolation chamber? Its just ridiculous.

3) The concept of the prison makes no sense. The guy that gets thrown out of the plane we're told cost as much as one month of Vinnie's salary. So how is this a profitable business? There's a number of guards and crew, so why/how would the government pay enough to make this a profitable enterprise?

4) A top secret maximum security prison on a boat? What happens in the event of storms, or the boat needs maintenance or supplies, crew members needing to get on and off? It just seems like one of those ideas that sounds "cool" initially, but becomes stupid the more you think about it (way before the end of the film).

5) The thing I understand least is the high rating and positive reviews. I thought Arnie's acting was terrible (I'm normally a fan, but post-politics he seems to just be there as a brand name, his hearts not really in it). The CGI was terrible. Some shots of the boat looked like it was cut and pasted. The rampant cliches (the warden's death scene, Arnie's slow mo gun scene). The overly nuanced characters (private pyle, the warden). Arnie's daughter was absolutely cringe-worthily bad. The whole last scene was embarrassing to watch. I just don't get it! As a prison film it was awful, as any other film it was just stupid. It had nothing to do with "good old fashioned 80s" films because it was packed with CGI and lacked heart/soul.

So glad I didn't go to the cinema to see this.

[–] Lunchbox-3 11 years ago

There a lot of things that make you think.

For a prison consisting of the world's worst, Stallone basically never gets hassled by anybody. He sure had an easy time palling around with Schwarzenegger.

What exactly is the motive for keeping these prisoners alive? Not for appearances, no one knows they're there. Someone is so bad you want to "eliminate" them from society never to return using some black ops group with no morals. Why not just kill them? Why waste the time and money to keep them imprisoned forever?

Hobbes has read Breslin's book and used it as the basis for his whole prison, yet doesn't know what he looks like? He's not informed of Breslin being sent to his prison by Lester, why exactly? Since Lester calls him up halfway through the movie and tells him. Wouldn't things have gone smoother if Hobbes had been in on it from the beginning?

So Stallone and Schwarzenegger are in solitary, and Stallone's camera goes black, and Schwarz starts acting like a total loon even though he's always been completely cool before. The Warden doesn't think this might be a distraction while Stallone gets away with something? He figures he'll just go down and open Schwarz' cell and talk to him for a while, meanwhile Stallone's camera is off for about 20 minutes. Later they discover the floor panel in Stallone's cell has been jarred loose but they conclude it might have been the result of water damage.

At some point Hobbes catches Sly and Arnie on camera talking to each other and concludes they must be planning something and bear closer scrutiny. What about the other 25 times they got together to trade notes before this? He never realized they were planning something before? This movie really makes Hobbes look foolish.

So part of Hobbes fail-safe prison was a camera system in which the entire system can be disabled by accessing one camera? And Stallone knew about this how exactly?

Sly and Arnie part on good terms at the end. Sly has just been coerced into breaking Arnie out of prison. Why was Arnie in the prison to begin with? Was he a genocidal lunatic? Maybe running a children's prostitution ring? We don't know. Is this supposed to be a happy ending? Did he even make good on the check he bounced earlier? Did Sly ever get paid?

[–] CaptainAmericaSux 11 years ago

Stallone was targeted immediately upon walking into the general population. The fact that he fought the guys off and Arnold had his back could have given Stallone enough "cred" to command respect.

[–] Redux006 11 years ago

Arnold was actually the mysterious computer genius "Mannheim", he had some device that was going to crash every financial market in the world, or something like that. The people who put him there thought he was an associate of Mannheim, they didn't realize he actually IS Mannheim. They sent him there for the same reason prisoners get sent to Gitmo, to interrogate him for years until he gives up what he knows, namely, the whereabouts of Mannheim.

[–] sioul_p 10 years ago

enlighting people again here i come:

-some institutions prefer to see the bad guys suffer for years instead of a quick death sentence.that is why they will even pay to make sure you rot in jail.

-perhaps there was no picture of breslin on his book... so that he could continue his job of breaking out of jail..have you thought of that...

-its called suspense. they keep you guessing as to who is behind all this. when lester reveals himself, it starts to make sense...if they tell you who is who from beginning what is the fun... what if they told you arnie was manheim from the beginning...that would have been boring to watch. And as you can see from the beginning they have a routine of not telling the warden about who breslin is.

-about arnie acting weird all of a sudden:
for the warden, it could be a distraction..or it could be that the confinement finally made arnie want to confess. but remember that for the warden, knowing the secret is so important that he is even willing to make a deal with stalone...a deal where stalone will walk away in exchange for relaying the secret...so, he is curious to see if arnie is ready to talk at that point, everything else is secondary.
he told his people to fix the camera.
the bolts were rusted so yes it could have been water damage issues. that is the thing: nothing is for sure 100 % either way. the warden can only guess and do his best.

-when he notices them plotting, it is after they start having suspicion with the water incident...at that point they are really on the lookout. get it ...

-dont forget stallone is a master at his craft...dont you think he would know alot, i mean alot about camera types and systems by now...i mean that his his livelyhood to know this stuff. he is risking his life and that of others on that escape so he did his homeworks and got the info.

-manheim was gonna crash the banks... that was his crime. they part on good terms because sly was not coerced, he CHOSE to accept the mission. he could have refused. suppose he didnt get paid...does it ruin the film for you this last detail ...sometimes we dont get all the answers so we can use our imagination.

peace

[–] skywalker_2003 11 years ago

Worst film of the year or one of them.stupid story,bad acting,bad music,bad CGI and bad directing.

[–] MadDog-ThrashTillDeath 11 years ago

you guys really are butthurt vegetarinas

this is a great entertaining movie & b!tch!ng about every little detail won't change that

- Thundering chords is what life's all about - Gerre

[–] chelseaal 11 years ago

The first 2/3 was reasonable, even if both leads are past it in their 60's, someone like Jason Statham would have been believable.
The last 1/3 was confusing with who Arnie was and why he was there.
Overall, a 5/10 from me.

[–] sioul_p 10 years ago

1) by "societys worse" they dont mean the prisoners have to be physically violent. besides, the bosses often dont get their own hands dirty. also,someone trying to crash the financial market doesnt have to be physically violent. but trust me stealing money is a form of violence and those criminals depriving families of food is a serious crime.

2)a)more secure because you cant swim away. the glass let see what you are doing in your cell at all time.they didnt need neck brace cause there was a chip to know where they were at.
b)the mask was to make it more difficult to know who is who and to read lips of what the gard says and you dont know wht technology is behind the mask it could be the same as sunglasses ie you can still see.
c)killing the doctor doesnt advance noone now does it. next point.
d)the films makes you realise that even the most secure place has flaws...that is the lesson of the film, do you get it now ...of course stalone would find the cracks.

3)who cares about the business model of the prison. did you really want the directors to sit with you and show you the books,the prisons business plan to enjoy the movie...now that,that would have been boring.

4) perhaps you have never been on a ship. there are many ways to supply a ships at sea: you can get another ship to fuel you and bring you supplies in the middle of nowhere. also, the same way they brought prisoners onboard they could take crew members away...and when you see how much the guards get paid for being there, you can understand them not complainig about staying there for weeks at the time. how long does it take to sail across an ocean...some people are at sea for months at the time and get paid less then the guards in this movie. As far as storms, that is how big ships are built, to resist big storms.

5)seems like you liked it enough to watch it to the end...There is a flipside to your opinion:some people dont understand why you hate it so much...
peace

[–] rabbitmoon 10 years ago

you chose to see faults instead of appreciating the good stuff.

I know, screw me for having taste and an ounce of intelligence, right?

[–] sioul_p 10 years ago

my apologies...i respect your views...we just see differetly i guess...i am curious what is a good film for you

[–] rabbitmoon 10 years ago

Are you genuinely curious? Because the suggestion that someone who doesn't like Escape Plan must have a taste worthy of curiosity and scrutiny is a disturbing one.

I enjoy PT Anderson, Fincher, Nolan, Lynch, Kubrick, Coen brothers, Haneke. Action wise I would say James Cameron, McTiernan, Paul Greengrass.

You trivialised the issue of the business model for the prison in Escape Plan, but for me its an important contextual problem and another reason why the film has no unconscious grip whatsoever. It's just "stuff", its a passage of time, there isn't anything to think about or consider. But that's ok - its that kind of a movie. I mostly (not always) watch films to get something out of them, some people just like to lol at Arnie shooting a bunch of people as part of some misguided inadequacy-sublimated-as-wish-fulfillment issue.

[–] sioul_p 10 years ago

genuinely , yes...
but i just noticed, you rated philomena 9
and james bond skyfall you gave 1

i fell asleep 10 seconds in the trailer of philomena, but you gave it a 9...
was james bond skyfall that bad to deserve a 1..

i guess this rating system of yours explains why our opinions differ

[–] NancyDPA 10 years ago

It's funny reading the posts on this movie - some people just didn't believe one bit of it, and some people tried to rationalize the whole thing (like it could really happen). The plot of this movie had more holes than Swiss cheese! But we saw "The Theory of Everything" over the weekend, and this movie was completely the opposite of that! It had to be one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen, but it was fun to watch. I see a whole new buddy movie series coming up with Rocky-Rambo-McGyver-Terminator!

And who knew you could break out of prison with toothpaste???