Escape Room

This January is a bit of an odd start when compared to the last few years. 

Usually I'm battling catching up with some of last year's awards darlings after they underwent some awful limited release schedules, but it seems that either A) that trend died down a bit this year or B) I've seen all I want to see from 2018. That's good because a few of you usually give me crap for including "last year" films in my awards if they didn't come to Denver until that year. How dare you! 

I kid...

Anyway, what we're left with is a slower start to January, but with a film that had an initially promising trailer of some unique and well-filmed horror. Escape Room interested me enough to see it and well...it's basically exactly what I expected. 

Escape Room is one of those few times I went to the movies with pretty average expectations and left neither surprised (which I was secretly hoping I would be) or disappointed in the quality of the film. That's a good thing I suppose for a month that can usually be a "dump" in terms of quality, but that's also not exactly high praise for Escape Room. 

In a lot of ways, Escape Room plays like a PG-13 Saw iteration, which it's kind of surprising something similar hasn't been done already given how successful that torture-porn series was. Capitalizing on a pop-culture craze like escape rooms is a nice way to bring it into 2019 and the film does have some fun with the premise. Unfortunately, Escape Room is never quite as smart as it thinks it is, specifically from a plot perspective. Like usual with these films we're grouped with a random band of people ranging in terms of likability. After a quick intro to where some of them are at in their lives, they eventually make their way to a company hosting the escape room and find that the game has already begun. OoooooooOOOO! Along the way they have to accomplish a series of puzzles, most of which are glossed over in explanation, in order to move to the next room. They eventually find the link between themselves and learn why they're there. The ending of the plot goes off the rails in a way that I neither liked or thought the film needed, but it was to leave the door open for a sequel, should there be one (which is looking likely after a strong opening weekend). It delves into conspiracy theory which could be interesting but again, it's all pretty glossed over in terms of explanation and specifics. 

"Wooh Tood...it's gotta be a clue!"

In my eyes, Escape Room is a perfect movie you'll watch on TV some day when you're sick, or doing taxes, or folding laundry. It doesn't demand your attention outright, it's not so tense or scary that it'll keep you engrossed, but it's also a fun diversion given the creativity of the escape rooms themselves. The PG-13 nature of the film makes it far more thriller than the horror movie that's sold on the advertisements, and I can't say there was every really a "tense" moment for me. To a certain degree, Escape Room knows this I think and moves along at a brisk pace (for the most part) and clocks in with a short 100 minute runtime. That keeps things moving from room to room and despite the fact that I wasn't totally connected with the emotions the film wanted me to, I was still eager and entertained to see what was coming next. 

The cast is composed of new talent, some of which you may have seen before. No one really stood out to me meaning that none of them really sold either end of the likability spectrum, but they have decent chemistry as a group that make some of their interactions fun. It's hard for them to really build up any character development in a film where 80% of the dialogue is typical dialogue you'd find in a real escape room (E.g. "Guys I found something! *reads clue* What does it mean?") so you can't fault them too much. Instead the highlights of this film are the rooms themselves, much like the highlights of the Saw films are the traps. Similarly, everyone will have their personal favorite and mine was an upside down bar that comes packed with the film's scariest surprise. Each room is fairly inventive and the film itself is technically competent enough from a cinematography and editing standpoint that it has more than its fair share of good-looking moments.

"Wanna play a game?"
Wrong franchise!

Escape Room gets a short review to start 2019 because there often isn't much to say about films that are exactly as you anticipate them. Will I remember that I saw it by the time I'm making next year's Rath Awards? Probably not. Are there worse films I could have seen on a Sunday mid-morning in January. History tells us definitely, yes. 

CONS

• Plot isn't anything special and the ending makes the whole thing convoluted in order to easily set up a sequel 
• We never really connect with these characters because they feel like over-exaggerated puzzle pieces. You have your obvious d-bag, likable girl, nerd, etc. and it's hard to make that feel genuine with dialogue surrounding solving puzzles
• No real big surprises or "Wow" moments 

PROS

• Short and sweet at 100 minutes
• Interesting premise and moves along briskly to keep the film (and rooms) fresh
• The rooms themselves are interesting and come with several challenges each. My personal fave was the upside down bar
• Likeable cast with decent chemistry to keep you rooting for them
• More technically competent than you might expect with some good cinematography and editing
• More thriller than horror, Escape Room is a nifty, but forgettable diversion

Rath's Review Score | 6.5/10