Escape

Ok its a bit hackneyed, the trafficking of BEBs (Blue-Eyed Blondes) with the ruthless baddies and the helpless young ladies. In this case there is a problem that since all the heroines are all BEBs, and since the film tries to track the action of different BEBs in similar locations, and since we get flashbacks to explain how the BEBs got into this situation, it gets hard to follow. Probably its best just to let the action flow over you rather than work out the plot.

Some nice touches - the girls are not all hopeless and brainless, and do some good fightbacks. The tension is mainly in the last 20 minutes, and the plot extends even into the end credits (good thing I didn't shut it off as soon as the last baddie died!).

All in all watchable but I would not watch it for a third time. Spoiler alert! Not all the baddies are British!

I'm not sure if the acting was bad, or it was simply down to the dialogue. In fact, I think it was the latter. Except for 2 or 3 very noticeable (and terrible) performances.

It was very cliche at times. And each sentence seems to be about 5 words long, pause, then next sentence.

There's a lot of human trafficking films out there, and this one is on the more unrealistic end. It wasn't terrible, it wasn't even bad, but it wasn't above a 4.5. No way. But it wasn't the worst film I've seen by any stretch of the imagination. So, if you're into thrillers, you'll probably not regret watching it, but probably won't remember in a week either.

Ten young women are kidnapped by sex traffickers. And, given the title, I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say they try to escape.

You might remember the director from The Dead, a zombie film set in Africa. I kind of liked that. This is a bit more of a traditional exploitation movie. Lots of youngish women in revealing clothes running around, trying to escape brutish guys.

The interesting thing about Escape is that the women fight back. Instead of just screaming for help, they throw punches and sometimes rocks. The fight choreography is a bit poor, but I liked that they made the effort. A lot of these kinds of thrillers get kind of annoying and repetitive with all the running and screaming.

It feels a bit long even at 90 minutes, but it's certainly watchable. There are also maybe too many characters. It's easier to keep a dozen characters straight when they're dressed and styled differently, but these are all youngish blondes in beach outfits. There was a nurse who was pretty cool, but the others kind of blended together.

If you're in the mood for a B movie, you might as well give it a try. If you're looking for something more than that, skip it.

Overall, I enjoyed this film, although it did seem to be a lower-budget version of 'Taken', but instead of Liam Neeson kicking ass, there are numerous hot 'blondes' doing it. Combining their superior psyche, these females exploit the machismo, one-dimensional nature of the villains, especially in the final act. That being said, I thought the actors cast as the antagonists did a good job. In particular, I enjoyed the camaraderie and 'friendship' between the eyepatch character and his Eastern European accomplice (Jon-Paul Gates, who I have seen in other films). Even though both were abducting and raping women at will, I thought their character traits personified the Eastern European mafia, where loyalty is not as important as greed and self-aggrandisement. When Gates attempts to drive the car, bleeding profusely, and Eyepatch asserts he can't drive, is hilarious! Some amusing moments in between the carnage of sex trafficking!

... in the first place. No pun intended - this looks good (cinematography) wise ... but does not score too many points in many other categories. Acting would be one of them - if you'd be mean you might even say that some (most?) of it here does not qualify to be called that.

But that would not be nice - still this also is far fetched from be called a masterclass ... on the other hand you could argue there is not much of a (good) script here either ... so there is that.

The first scene is amongst the best things the movie has to offer ... do not let yourself be fooled by that ... escape before it's too late (see what I did there?)