The first question most people probably will have upon seeing No Escape is thus: is this film racist?
The film takes place in an unnamed Southeast Asian country; from what I can tell, No Escape takes place in Thailand, but the native people speak a dialect of Cambodian with street lettering from another country in the region, so your guess is as good as mine. Our protagonist, Owen Wilson, and his family arrive to take a job from a big water company operating in this country named Cardiff. Unfortunately (and this isn’t a spoiler), Cardiff did the same thing which the villain did in Quantum of Solace: control the water supply through foreign debt. Notably, this does not sit well with the people of this country, and thus a coup occurs with the killing of the country’s dictator. This doesn’t sound that outside the realm of possibility, does it?
Southeast Asia has a habit of these events occurring, and much of it comes down to foreign meddling in their affairs. From Vietnam and the French to The Philippines and the Spanish, uprisings both violent and nonviolent occur in former colonies as they strive for independence or (at the very least) regime change. Sometimes, things occur nonviolently like the Philippines; at other times, a dictator takes his place and begins the mass killings of those against the government and foreigners, like the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot (Cambodia, as noted earlier). In other words, the events of No Escape don’t seem too far outside the realm of possibility; xenophobia can often be a powerful catalyst for change, and violent change at that.
Still, No Escape certainly aims to provide the “villain” (who, really, are just oppressed people tired of being taken advantage of) with a motivation, but it’s only done in passing during a minor exposition scene. That’s not enough to turn the unruly mob from crazy people who murder others at the slightest provocation to actual human beings. Then, when the leader of this coup simply drops into place and somehow tracks our protagonist through the process of deus ex machina and pure plot contrivance/coincidence, it just simply reinforces them as evil without really justifying it quite enough. That’s not really racism, just poor writing.
So, Owen Wilson and his family have to escape these people who absolutely HATE Cardiff with a passion, and the fact that they’ve got his face on a Welcome banner at his hotel means every single person who started the coup is looking for them. More than likely, they’ll be murdered horribly simply for existing, even if he took the job just for money. Thus, the film goes through the paces of an action/thriller with some light touches of horror to make for a really, really effective ninety-minute movie. Despite being able to predict the ending, it’s hard to really care when the film creates such an effective sense of tension throughout.
Think of it like this: you sorta care on a purely emotional level what’s happening. A guy and his family end up somewhere at the wrong place and time; if they get caught, they will most certainly die in some horrific way, and from that you’re rooting for them to survive throughout. Owen Wilson and Lake Bell both play their roles as well as possible within the confines of such a film; they’re “everyman” and “everywoman” (I coined a new term!) enough that you can, at the very least, relate to such an extraordinary situation, despite it being very unlikely. The addition of the children just takes the cake, because young children often don’t care what’s happening in incredibly dangerous situations (needs like “I’m hungry” don’t often compute with marauders).
I guess No Escape reminds me of the best B-movies that came out: despite some absurd crazy logic and a weird penchant for horrific violence (and, in this case, a sexual assault, though a pretty minor one in the annals of movie history), it’s deeply engaging and entertaining despite its faults. The film does contain its moments of jarring levity befitting a B-movie with both Owen Wilson (who seems to be funny even when he’s not intentionally so) and the addition of Pierce Brosnan, now more character actor than James Bond with a grizzled beard and a penchant for booze and women. He is, unfortunately, startlingly underused, but this is a short film, so it’s acceptable I suppose! And, if you couldn’t guess the ending already (American film + children = not surprising), I’d be surprised, Regardless, No Escape’s a lot of fun and tension wrapped up in a unique premise which actually works more often than not.
Also, wow, this film was made for $5 million dollars? Seriously, I wouldn’t have known!
