“No Escape”

This end of summer thriller truly disappoints. Even with Owen Wilson playing “Daddy Extradinaire” ,the simplistic dialogue and the shallow treatment of both foreign coups and international corporations make this movie’s world view seem like the “Ugly American” of 2015. “No Escape” is more than told from the North American family’s perspective: No one matters but this American family. For all the tension and “edge of your seat” queasiness, the viewer never doubts that this family will make it back home. Why? Because they deserve it more than any of the other families pummeled and left gun-downed by patriots trying to hold on to their county’s resources.

Pierce Brosnan,never my favorite, saps up his role as Hammond. As a dissolute former British MI 6 operative,or some such,he acts like Arnold Schwarzenegger as he sacrifices himself with a gross splat after yelling obscenities at the tank driver who creams him. His line,”there is no good or bad. Just get your family the hell out.” best sums up this action-packed piece. Lake Bell adds her best to the sappy writing with her “if we die here tomorrow,it would have been worth it”. As Amy,she is referring to her mothering two girls and creating this fab family with Jack ( Owen Wilson). Bell is no light weight:she fights like a she-wolf. Both parents bludgeon individuals during their flight to the American Embassy and then to asylum in Vietnam Nam. Parent power includes throwing Lucy and Beezie from one rooftop to another,and telling the youngest that it is all right to “go in your pants” when under gunfire.The sweetest line in this violent movie is Beezie’s retort,”but I’m not a baby”. Having Lucy hold a gun to her father’s head is what the Asian enemy does. The American family tells sweet stories of Lucy’s birth and first breath.

The use of slow motion and the editing of the many chase scenes are superb. The cliché-ridden script of dog eating,opium sex dens, and cruelty on one nationality’s end, and child coddling,deal-making parenting on the other pits babes-in-arms and friendship bracelets against mass executions and Hollywood wannabes. While Jack tries to help an Asian mother and child initially in his run through the market,he never acknowledges the Kenny Rogers cabbie’s corpse. Brosnan,as Hammond the seasoned traveller, does no better. The unpredictably of hotel services is the least of this film’s scoffing. Citizens of the World
beware of seeing this movie as anything but an “us versus them” piece.