No Escape

American businessman Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson), wife Annie and their two young daughters arrive in Southeast Asia to begin a new life. As his company plans to improve the region's water quality, the family slowly learns that they're in the middle of a political uprising. Armed rebels attack the hotel where they're staying, ordered to kill any foreigners that they encounter. Amid utter chaos, Jack must find a way to save himself and his loved ones from the violence erupting all around them.

They say that stories have two plots either a journey or a contest. This is definitely a journey- to get out of where they are as soon as possible, alive. It is an action packed and an often brutal journey that keeps you gripped from start to finish. It also plays on the often smug felt security of being a white western first worlder who can rely on embassy’s, governments and often a well-equipped army if need be. This story is about what happens when all that security is stripped away. The film also throws a few punches at the American economic foreign policies, in between the action that is. Pierce Brosnan at one point, has to explain to Wilson that maybe the water company he was going to work might not be there just to help out the locals.

Owen Wilson brings more gravitas to this performance than in any before and Brosnan acts his socks off as cockney shadowy character Hammond, and looks like he loves every minute of it. The downside is that the Asian characters in the film are a little one dimensional, especially the villains on the piece. However, this is a rollercoaster of action film and well worth a look. Lookout for the ironic ending. Don’t let this movie escape, go and see.