Stallone and Arnie deliver the goods

ESCAPE PLAN (2013)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Back in the 1980's, the pairing of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone in a movie would have been exciting news - they were both brawny superstars of various action flicks. Sadly, in 2013, nobody gave a damn. Granted, both of them have appeared in "The Expendables" films but "Escape Plan" gives them both full-bodied leads. "Escape Plan" is also one of the best films to ever come out of either actor in a long time, an exciting, lean, thoroughly enjoyable and, dare I say, original action picture dependent on smarts, not explosions and copious CGI.

Ray Breslin (Stallone) is a master at breaking out of maximum security prisons, only he is no criminal. Ray co-owns a security firm that tests the reliability of supposedly impenetrable prisons, and proves how easily someone may escape from them (He has also written a book on how he does it). Breslin studies the ins and outs of a prison, the prison guard shifts, and unseen weaknesses with the engineering of the facility. Breslin is offered a job by the CIA to penetrate a top secret prison that exists in a place that nobody knows...nor can Breslin be tracked by his associates. When he discovers why the prison is not easy to locate, it is a shocker, at least to me, and it gives the movie a shot of adrenaline and manic urgency. Meanwhile, Ray finds an ally in his efforts to break out, a high-profile prisoner named Rottmayer (Schwarzenegger), and both feign animosity resulting in fistfights that lands both of them in solitary confinement (their actual jails have glass walls). To top it all off, the vicious warden (James Caviezel, in an atypically villainous role) wants to keep Breslin (code named "Portos") in prison forever.

Part of the fun of "Escape Plan" is watching Breslin deconstruct the prison's design in his mind. When in solitary confinement, he discovers that the intense floodlights that fill the cell can be used to burn off the steel rivets of the aluminum floors thanks to, well, MacGyver would love what Breslin uses. His observance of the armed guards and their stringent shifts, where they stand in relation to the cells, all helps Breslin figure out his escape. Only problem is where the prison is located, and I would not dream of giving that away.

Stallone's wayward career of more misses than hits is not a reason to scoff at this often ridiculed actor. I saw more nuance in his recent "Bullet to the Head" and "Rocky Balboa" than almost anything else he has done a generation ago. His deep gravelly voice demonstrates a man who has been toiling around for a while, and he is far more magnetic on screen than he has been. Ditto Schwarzenegger who has always shown ample humor and personality in droves - I favor Arnie overall but he has a compatibility with Stallone that works wonders on screen. Why this union did not happen sooner is hard to fathom (I am leaving out their few shared scenes in "The Expendables" since explosions and generic fistfights rule the day in those pictures).

For pure excitement and for some clever banter and crisp dialogue between Stallone and Schwarzenegger, "Escape Plan" is a dazzling junk-food movie treat. The extra on this supernova action-movie pairing of two titans is Vincent D'Onofrio as the co-owner of the security firm - he has a few cards up his sleeve, which is tainted with sanitizer (I'll never understand the fascination with that substance). 50 Cent, Sam Neill, Amy Ryan and Vinnie Jones make small impressions but they do not add up to much. For me, watching Stallone and Schwarzenegger plot and discuss strategies kept me riveted. That and the usual explosive ending with the attached one-liners. What else would you expect from these guys?