#5 Movies

 No Escape!

    Ever watched a movie and it turned out to be completely different from your expectations? The movie was filled with different twists and turns that by the end you couldn't comprehend what you just watched. Well that happened to me when I stumbled upon the movie No Escape. No Escape led with the intention of a movie is going  one-way but completely rear-ending into another. No Escape was released on September 18,2020 on Hulu and follows A social media influencer and his friends who find themselves in over their head in Moscow, as the search for quality online content brings them to a sinister world. 

    Cole, whose character is played by Keegan Allen is known for doing outrageous things and vlogging every moment of his life since birth. He finds himself and his friends in for a ride they didn't bargain for. Beginning of the movie, Cole is narrating  how he was always being filmed and broadcast his life on footage. His vlog series has been ten years in the making and wants something drastic to celebrate his anniversary. Now his vlogs have always been about what exciting thing to do next and his fans dictate his moves. If it's from bungee jumping from an airplane or blowing up a 18-story building, Cole has delivered every time. 

    This one time Cole is not prepared at all for what is to come. Showcasing the first half of the movie, his friends set up a trip to Moscow to  commemorate his 10th anniversary. They haven't told him what they will be doing the whole trip and they finally reveal they will be attending the ultimate escape room. His friends include his childhood best friend, Thomas, mutual friend Sam, his vlog buddy Dash, and his girlfriend Erin. Cole doesn't think the escape room is legit and says it is a  waste of time coming all the way to Moscow just for an escape room. 

    Dash reassures that the escape room is one like never before. Dash gets a buddy that lives in Moscow whose name is  Alexei to orchestrate the escape room.  Now without giving too much away the ending is nothing like how the movie is to be portrayed. Lots of critics or viewers did not enjoy the ending. They said it basically contradicted the whole plot of the  movie. In that case, I would say that was true. Based on the trailer, you would see that it was supposed to be an escape room turned to something deadly. With that being said, it is a movie, I feel every movie doesn't have to showcase real-life events or possible real scenarios. I can say enjoy the movie very well. The acting could have been better especially from the main character Cole's perspective. He is a pivotal part of the movie. 

    His character or his acting was just not emotional enough for me that would showcase someone in pain. For the first 20 minutes, I was thinking of cutting the movie off because of the acting style some of the actors possessed but stayed to the end and was not disappointed. I recommend it 6/10 if you can get past the corny acting but once they start the sadistic game of the escape room, the film takes a turn for the better and you are shocked at its end. I mean we are thinking in terms of stellar performances, I would say it's not that good because the acting can by pretty cringe. The thing that will keep you entertained is to see if the friends will survive or not. I think the main point of why some people didn't enjoy the movie is that this peculiar movie takes elements from other movies and adds their own flair. In the movie, you can see references from Saw, Escape Room, and the movie Hostel. Some viewers are able to see how the movie was going to end a mile away and that it became predictable. I think what the director tries to get across the movie is the dangers of  a social media influencer taking things too far to capture the most outrageous things  and the lives between reality and fiction are blurred. It is like how far would you go to maintain a relevance and popular persona on the internet. The thing about me when  it comes to watching movies I tend to watch excellent movies and the bad ones. This one wasn't the best but it is a movie to pass time on a Friday night.