DATELINE: MOVIE MASHUP
Escapees
We realize that teaming independent legends is an old movie concept. John Huston originally wanted Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable to star in his The Man Who Would Be King. It never panned out.
So, with some interest we looked forward to graybeards Sylvester Stallone and the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger going head-to-head in a prison drama, acting like middle-aged whelps half their ages.
You cannot convince us that anything would top Oz, the satirical HBO prison series where every liberal concept about incarceration was raked over the coals and dumped into solitary.
Escape Plan actually caught our interest because Stallone plays a technical wizard who designs escape proof prisons by serving as an inmate and flying over the prison walls.
However, double-crossing and embarrassed prison officials turn the tables on him, putting him involuntarily into the most modern medieval torture chamber you could devise.
His fellow inmate is Arnold. Better yet, Warden Hobbes is played by Jim Caviezel on hiatus from Person of Interest.
You couldn’t find a better foil for the two geriatric stars that seem a bit long in the tooth for fights and cruel treatment.
Isn’t elder abuse a crime?
Caviezel is delicious in this movie, stealing every scene.
You know when your warden likes classical music, collects butterflies and mounts them on pins, and feyly dresses in a three-piece suit, he has to be totally out of place with Arnold and Stallone. As the man in the Brooks Brothers suit, Caviezel is a joy forever here.
If you have no plans for the weekend, Escape Plan may be worth a bag of popcorn and a few laughs.
Be sure to read Ossurworld’s latest movie review collection, MOVIES IN THE STREAM, now available at Amazon.com in ebook and softcover for smart readers everywhere.