GUEST COLUMN: "Escape Room" Review

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Escape Room (2019) Review

by Lewis Robinson

Escape Room, one of the newer death game movies to be released, is a fairly polarizing film. Critics and audiences seem to be divided. If you're considering watching it, here is a review of the movie's most important elements.

Death Games

For movies like Escape Room, the death games tend to be the best part. Think of flicks like Alice in Borderland and Saw, not to mention the series Squid Game.

In this film, the death games are centered around various escape rooms, many of which are highly creative. The most notable ones are probably the upside-down room and the hallucinogenic experience. Both create high-stakes, difficult challenges and interesting visuals. These rooms will probably make you interested in doing an escape room (at least, without the death aspect!) In that case, check out escape room Tucson.

Unfortunately, the movie also features a couple of less engaging rooms. For instance, the medical one doesn't provide many interesting challenges. The visuals are also pretty mundane compared to the others. Overall, it's important to note that the clues in these rooms aren't overly simple. While some of the answers depend on the characters' backstories, you can have fun trying to solve the puzzles while watching.

Characters

The characters in Escape Room are a highly important part of the film. The plot is very minimal, so the film's enjoyability largely depends on the characters. Also, the highly relevant escape rooms are all based on the characters' backstories.

Unfortunately, the Escape Room characters vary greatly in quality. While some are well fleshed out, others are far too one-dimensional and annoying. A great example of this is Jason. This character starts out as a cocky businessman. As the film goes on, he only becomes more cartoonishly villainous.

On the other hand, there are some very interesting and awesome characters. For instance, Amanda is a veteran with helpful physical skills. Despite her abilities, though, she's still vulnerable and able to open up. Also, the protagonist Zoey is highly intelligent and capable. However, her ability to survive everything is somewhat unbelievable, especially considering that she goes through little growth. As a whole, all of the characters could have been more fleshed out.

Directing

The directing in Escape Room, like the film itself, has its ups and downs. For the most part, all of the escape room sequences are well directed. The visuals alone are breathtaking, especially in the hallucination scene. The pacing and cuts allow the tension to ramp up realistically. When a character dies, the audience is given time to feel that loss, even if it's only for a minute or so.

However, there are some flaws to address. For one thing, the movie's pacing isn't spectacular. The first 20 minutes are fairly boring and slow. Essentially, this time is used to get out character exposition quickly. So, when the games start, the audience isn't very emotionally connected. The next hour or so, on the other hand, is highly engaging.

Regrettably, the ending is also odd pacing-wise. It seems to rush through the plot twists and escape. The ending also contains a lot of scenes, many of which could have been saved for the sequel.

Plot 

The plot of Escape Room, like many death game films, is fairly minimal. Essentially, it involves several strangers doing a series of escape rooms. As the game goes on, the players realize that failure means death. Also, it becomes clear that everyone present has a traumatic past. Other than this, there are few memorable plot points until the end.

Fortunately for the film, a detailed plot is unnecessary. The escape rooms provide enough intrigue to keep the audience interested. Unfortunately, viewers waiting for an amazing plot twist will probably be disappointed. The ending reveal is fairly mundane and somewhat expected. Once the reveal is over, the rest of the film is spent on sequel bait. So, while the backstory-laden escape rooms were excellent, the later plot was fairly uninteresting.

While Escape Room has its flaws, the movie is still enjoyable to watch. Lovers of death-game films will be particularly entertained. Check it out and see what you think!