Escape bid movie fails

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), June 20, 2008

THE ESCAPIST (15, 101 mins) Drama/Action. Brian Cox, Dominic Cooper, Joseph Fiennes, Liam Cunningham, Seu Jorge, Damian Lewis, Steven Mackintosh. Director: Rupert Wyatt.

******

FREEDOM is just a state of mind in The Escapist, a prison break thriller that attempts to breathe new life into the genre.

Director Rupert Wyatt and co-writer Daniel Hardy exploit our preconceptions, apparently abiding by convention as a motley crew of criminals orchestrate their hare-brained scheme to breach the air vents in the laundry room.

But nothing is quite what it first appears and the writers have an ace up their sleeve that they play in the film's dying moments.

It's a daring though ultimately disappointing final flourish, which comes perilously close to committing the cardinal sin of storytelling. Crucially, once we're aware of this sleight of hand, there's no compulsion to watch the film again to pick up the clues we missed. The film opens during the escape bid, then flashes back to follow the plan.

Director of photography Philipp Blaubach employs slightly different colour palettes to distinguish between timeframes: Cold grey/blue for the break-out and a jaundiced tinge for flashbacks inside the prison.

The architect of this bold plan is Frank Perry (Cox), a lifer content to spend the rest of his days behind bars until he learns that his 20-year-old daughter is a junkie.

"I've got to see her, I've got to make things right," he tells friend Brodie (Cunningham). So the lifer concocts a plan to break through the panelling at the back of the chapel confessional.

Brodie agrees to help and Frank enlists the services of bruiser Lenny (Fiennes), resident drug dealer Viv (Jorge) and new kid on the cellblock Lacey (Cooper) to ensure the group stays under the radar of effete top dog Rizza (Lewis) and his goons.

The Escapist hides behind its fractured chronology, ricocheting back and forth before the cocky final twist.

Cox brings a brooding intensity to his role but other members of the escape team aren't sketched in any real detail.

Fiennes in particular should be sent down for a woeful accent.

Wyatt shoots on location at Kilmainham Jail in Dublin and in a disused London underground station for pivotal scenes of the escape bid as the men run along live tracks just as trains come into service.

SWEARING; NO SEX; VIOLENCE

CAPTION(S):

BROODING - Brian Cox