No Escape

I totally agree with the comment given by Slurpee 7. I first saw it as a young teen and thought it was OK, but every time I saw it afterwards it just kept getting better and better. I don't know why. The story is very simple, but Campbell's movies just make you forget about that(e.g. Vertical limit- with a rather stupid story). This is the first movie I ever saw Ray Liotta and the man just has such powerful and "vicious" eyes.Great for the part. And the villain(excellently portrayed by Wilson), referring to his "habitat" as a first class hotel and making constant jokes - gotta love it. A movie about survival, and what a man is actually prepared to do for it. 9/10

Ray Liota stars in this sci-fi actioner, sent to an in-escapable island prison he bands together with a group of fellow inmates to fight off a band of savages. Stuart Wilson plays Marek the psycho leader of the savages and his over the top portrayal fits in with the late night b-movie feel. Also appearing are a whole host of British character actors along with Lance Henrickson and Ernie Hudson who seem to make a living off this type of direct to video fare.

If your not into sci-fi or action you may as well leave now, this is one of those films that regular appears late at night on the movie channel and is worth watching because it's a fun no brainer. The best way to describe it is a cross of Mad Max and Fortress the Christopher Lambert Sci-Fi effort. This film is superior to Fortress but falls way short of Mad Max.

Liota is pretty good but this is no where near his quality of performance in Goodfella's and to be honest it doesn't need to be as this is b-movie action fun not Scorsese. He drives the plot along and carries the action scenes off well. Lance Henrikson is reliable as ever and adds to his impressive list of fantasy/sci-fi appearances, Ernie Hudson is OK but will never escape from the isn't that the fourth guy in ghostbusters who didn't have much to do? One for the late night sci-fi / b-movie fans 6/10

When I first sat down, to see this movie, I wasn't expecting much; In fact, I was preparing myself mentally for a total flop... but it really took me by surprise. It's actually quite interesting, and has some good action sequences. The plot is pretty interesting, and moves along very nicely, quickly moving on, constantly developing. The acting was convincing enough, there wasn't really any scenes that were terrible, even though a lot of the scenes and lines were very corny; it fit perfectly in with the movie, and as such wasn't out of place. It's pretty much a B-movie, but if you like(or just enjoy mildly) B-movies, you'll probably be at least reasonably entertained by it. It's reminiscent of movies like Fortress, but just a little better in that it's very unpredictable; no matter what you think is gonna happen, you'll be surprised again and again by what happens. It's pretty interesting all the way through, it has some good, 80's style action, corny B-movie lines, a B-movie feel throughout the movie... so, if you can watch it for free, either borrow it from a friend, or watch it on TV... if not, only watch it if you're into movies like Fortress. 6/10

Soldier Ray (Goodfellas) Liotta is sent to Prison for shooting one of his commanding officers in the year 2022- but it's no ordinary Prison, they send if to a deserted Island where bad ass criminals are taken and left alone to fend for themselves FOR EVER. When he arrives he realises there are two tribes one a violent and sadistic one known as the 'Outsiders' led by Marek (a great performance from British Actor Stuart Wilson and a Peaceful, loving and tight-knit community run by 'The Father' (a tailor made role for Lance Henriksen) who would live the rest of their lives in Peace and Harmony if it wasn't for Marek and his dirty,Ugly band of bad asses. Liotta needs to find his way off the Island which is 200 miles from the nearest coastline and is constantly watched by The Warden who will kill anyone who attempts to get off as well have having to fight with the good guys against the Outsiders who are becoming more and more fierce with each attack, This is a very well made Sci-fi actioner from Martin Campbell who has since made 007's Goldeneye (1995), The Mask of Zorro (1998) and Vertical Limit (2000) and is currently working on the Zorro Sequel due out Next Year. There are also plenty of faces to spot for British Viewers including Jack Shepherd (Yes! Wycliffe himself) who is suprisingly good the as the village mechanic who has tried for years to build a contraption to get them off the island, and The late Don Henderson who stars as the resident beer Maker.

Unfortunately the film bombed on both sides of the Atlantic taking a measly $15m in the states and a pathetic £500,000 here in the UK on it's original release 10 years ago but don't let that put you off it's very well acted with plenty of action and Drama.

My Rating:- **** out of *****

On the surface, this looks like a dumb movie which is overly violent and too seedy because it features nothing but hardened criminals plus the normal sadistic warden Hollywood always shows in all modern-day films.

But....it turns out the story isn't as sordid as it looks and the violence, although plentiful, is somehow not overdone. Also, the chief villain " Walter Marek" (Stuart Wilson) is a man with a good sense of humor. The comedic relief he brings is a real plus to the story. By the way, Wilson doesn't look like Mel Gibson but his voice sure sounds similar.

"No Escape" is strictly an action movie with an all-male cast that has a grim atmosphere of convicts fighting it out on an inescapable island in the year 2022.

Profanity isn't as much as you'd except in a tough film like this and - in a real oddity - Lance Henriksen is the nicest guy in the movie! He never utters a bad or angry word. If you know the characters Henriksen usually plays, you know this is a rarity. Ray Liotta, Michael Lerner and Ernie Hudson also star, so it's a decent cast.

You could do a lot worse looking for two hours of "escapist" fare.