No Escape (2015), R, ★★★

Let's get the family out and try to escape.

The brash intensity to the latest movie of Owen Wilson's filmography is proof on-screen and we, the audience, realize the horrors of the propaganda that is going on in another country. A myriad on vacationers do not do enough research to visit and what to discover when going to another country or to another region. Yes, many families would like to visit another country just for the experience, however, this movie is a lesson as many families should just watch the news when something is going on in that country. For example, I do not think it is a good idea to go the Caribbean in this time of the hurricane season. With all of the xenophobia and the unpleasantry of the disturbing images occurring during a coup and despite the overload of style, this movie is worthy enough to watch because of the well-crafted action sequences. However, it is not a movie to re-live for a while.

In a world where strangers roam into a strange wilderness of somewhat epic proportions, an inventive but unsure engineer named Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson) transports himself and his family consisting of his wife, Annie (Lake Bell) and their two daughters, Lucy (Sterling Jerins) and Beeze (Claire Geare) to an unknown and unnamed Asian country. (In the movie, it almost resembles Cambodia but all I have to say is that they like to eat awful food and operate weird stores.)

Anyway, when Jack and his family get accustomed to this country, they hear some rather unusual and disturbing sounds of crowd-chanting and gunfire. It is a toxic environment of rioters, who are targeting and terrorizing foreigners, that bothers and demonizes Jack's company. The situation becomes perilous for Jack's family as they need to "get 10 steps between themselves and the guys behind them". With their hotel under siege and the American embassy being ransacked, a mysterious British ex-patriot named Hammond (Pierce Brosnan) come to their aid for a little bit. After, Jack and his family escape by jumping from one roof to another with the heavily advertised shot of his children in SLOW MOTION being thrown.

WOW! Owen Wilson with Pierce Brosnan. 

This is a subject that is very careful and risky to put on-screen when a movie is a bit of "white-wash" literally in a country full of foreign revolutionaries gunning them down. If it is put on the perspective of the many characters visiting a country, I would have hated this movie. Now, based on the point of view of the family, it is a traumatic experience of a coup invading the country. It is a brutally violent experience of a person who is not really carrying a gun or know anything about tactics. People are scared in reality to even use a gun even in self-defense. It is a controversial and polarizing movie to debate about in whether or not it is a well-crafted movie of expertise or a racially inept presentation of what could happen if you visited another country.

Owen Wilson is one of the last people to cast in a movie full of riots, brutality and some political propaganda going around. Even though his character is a bit cliched, he gives an assured and restrained performance trying to go through the obstacles of horror imaginable. Lake Bell is good as a strong mother willing to take care of her children. I wished that Pierce Brosnan was in the movie for a longer stretch of time because his character is fascinating. But, he plays his role like he is back in the role of James Bond.

This is a subject that is tough to conceive of based on the disturbing material. Nevertheless, it is well-made and it is directed by John Erick Dowdle, who made Devil, which was sort of a ridiculous enterprise. The film gets ridiculous with its slow-motion and many images of action with the style of camera shaking. But, the style improves as it moves along. I am marginally recommending the movie because of the well-crafted and well-directed action and also for the surprisingly good performances. However, be warned, it is a movie not for younger viewers for sure and it is an unpleasant experience to watch. I liked the movie with reservations but it is not a movie that I would watch over and over again.

***