Customer Reviews

The Escapist [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Andy Serkis hits it out of the park.

The ESCAPIST was actually filmed BEFORE the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and King Kong, where he became Peter Jackson's secret weapon, bringing GOLLUM and KING KONG to life. In the ESCAPIST he plays Ricky Barnes, a ruthless, heartless, cold-blooded killer. And he plays it with unabashed anger and passion. He pours himself into this character, demonstrating his skill as an actor, and making the audience fear what is going on behind those searing eyes.

Jonny Lee Miller too does a great job portraying Denis, the man who's pregnant wife was senselessly gunned-down by Serkis' Ricky Barnes. He's no hero. He's just a man. He's not a student of fighting arts. He's just a man who's dieing inside from the madness of the death of his wife and demons from within or telling him to do whatever it takes to make sure that her death is avenged. No matter what the cost.

His baby survives the shooting and is being cared for by Christine, played by the beautiful Jodhi May, who is either a friend or his sister... not sure. But, rather than settle into life with his daughter and Christine (if she's not his sister, that is), he decides to fake his own death by crashing his plane, committing juvenille crimes in order to be incarcerated and then committing more and more acts in order to get moved into the same prison as Ricky Barnes. Which isn't easy, seeing as though Barnes is in jail for murder and Denis is in jail for bashing in a police car with a baseball bat. They don't put vandals in jail with murderers... so he's gotta work his way up.

Yet, the prison sequences in the ESCAPIST are astounding and top notch and highly realistic. Almost makes you think that Johnny Lee Miller actually DID get himself thrown in prison.

Aside from the acting and the production and the realism, the movie is knocked down a couple of pegs by being one of the most reliant on COINCIDENCE movies I've seen in recent years. Not to mention, reliant on the audience relating to the hero in the film, making such a BAD BAD decision... JAIL or DAUGHTER... hmmm? JAIL or DAUGHTER + JODHI MAY??

Coincidences... bad guys son rides on the same bus to the prison with Christine, remembers the last name of the guy who put his dad in prison, mentions it to his dad gets an escape plan rolling. Bad guys plans an elaborate prison escape with timer explosives and run out to the runway of a no-escape island under the impression that a plane would be there... and of course there is. Somehow... Denis manages to get himself transfered to this maximum security, alcatraz type prison, despite just being a common thug. I could go on and on.

The point is, this IS A GOOD MOVIE, and I'm glad I watched it, but the COINCIDENCES (which I hate more than anything), made the movie just average to me. But, more than anything, I couldn't forgive the main character Denis for making such a really bad decision in the first place.

I won't remember the movie in a few weeks, but I think I will remember ANDY SERKIS' performance. So, there you go.

The Escapist is one of those films that has little going for it at first sight: a constantly underachieving director and a bland leading man in yet another of that seemingly endless post-Lock, Stock stream of British crime movies. That it didn't even get a theatrical release but went straight to cable TV and DVD lowers expectations even further. Johnny Lee Miller, the blandest of the Trainspotting cast, initially looks like a bad choice for leading man, his hopeless delivery of the opening voice-over monologue boding particularly ill. The awkward stylistic devices in first ten minutes as his nice middle class guy loses his pregnant wife to Andy Serkis' escaped psychopath don't do the film many favors either, although it does help get the exposition quickly out of the way. From then on it turns into a particularly ingenious revenge thriller, with Miller's initial blandness working in his favor as he becomes increasingly convincingly unpleasant.

Rather than go the Charles Bronson/Jodie Foster route and roam the streets with a gun in search of catharsis, Miller decides instead to go right to the heart of the problem and get sent to prison, where he soon finds himself on "The Magic Roundabout" as his constant escape attempts see his 7-day sentence grow into two years as he works his way up from minimum security to the vividly realized Hellish maximum security island prison where Serkis is serving a 20-year sentence. Naturally, things don't go according to plan...

There's enough novelty in the premise and plot twists to drive the film, with Gillies McKinnon keeping things at a lean 100 minutes and drawing out an excellent supporting performance from Gary Lewis as the hardened con who befriends but never fully trust Miller. Andy Serkis is channelling Keith Allen in a particularly bad mood and doing it with élan, though Jodhi May really doesn't get much to do as his sister-in-law but act as his conscience and another potential victim in a couple of scenes. It's not a world-beater by any means, just a pleasingly efficient little thriller that deserved more attention than it got and is well worth a look if it crosses your path. Just bear with it past those awkward opening scenes.

What if you lost what you loved most, and legal justice wasn't enough revenge?

That's the question that spawns "The Escapist," a gritty, taut little thriller that gives a new spin to the revenge quest. No Hollywood-style love interests or high-octane chases -- just a trio of excellent actors, a solid premise, and musings on why revenge will never bring you satisfaction.

Denis (Jonny Lee Miller) has it all -- a gorgeous house, a plane, a wife he adores, and a baby on the way. But one night Ricky Barnes (Andy Serkis) breaks in, and murders Denis' wife. The baby narrowly survives, and Barnes is sent to a maximum-security prison on a remote island -- but Denis is still consumed with a need for revenge against the man who destroyed four people's lives.

So he fakes his suicide, puts a few dents in a cop car, and receives a brief sentence -- then escapes. With each escape he receives a stiffer sentence, is sent to a higher security facility, and is forced to create ever more daring escape plans. But as he approaches Ricky Barnes' prison, Denis finds himself trapped in Ricky's own plot to escape...

"The Escapist" is a welcome change from your average Hollywood thriller -- a little indie movie, with no explosions or gun battles, lots of nasty little prisons, and a main cast of only three people. It has a stripped-down, raw feeling that gives a big contrast to the polished direction.

Basically the movie tracks Denis' descent into hell, with the knowledge that no matter what happens, Denis won't have won because his wife will still be dead. Gillies MacKinnon takes us from idyllic seaside villas, grey seas and sanitary little jails to the savage side of civilization, where there's no hope and no escape. And MacKinnon knows how to surprise us with an ending that leaves you wondering what is next.

Miller gives an overall good performance as a man with nothing to lose, and only revenge to gain -- he gets over-the-top in some of the scenes, but he's brilliant when Denis is ice cold. Jodhi May gives a lovely performance as his traumatized sister-in-law, and Serkis is simply chilling as a grinning, soulless murderer with a sadistic streak as big as Panama. I swear, he's creepier than Gollum in this movie.

"The Escapist" is a revenge thriller stripped down to the bone, but it's far better than many such movies are -- especially since it never loses sight of the fact that revenge can't make you happy.

Setting aside its farfetched premise, The Escapist (2001), is an entertaining British suspense thriller. Pilot Denis Hopkins (Jonny Lee Miller) was flying high, but his life crash lands, when psycho criminal Ricky Barnes (Andy Serkis) and his mates invade his home, and gun down his pregnant wife. Although doctors were able to save his child, Hopkins turns his daughter over to his sister-in-law, and begins a quest for revenge against the man that destroyed his life. As Barnes is in a high security prison, getting to him is a bit of a problem, but Hopkins has quite the mad plan. After faking his death, Hopkins gets himself into the penal system by committing a minor crime. Once behind bars, Hopkins repeated attempts at escape get him transferred from prison to prison, eventually winding up at Sullen Voe the facility where Barnes is big man on the cellblock. Hopkins is ready for a final confrontation, but Barnes has prepared an escape plan of his own, with Hopkins as the key player. The film concludes with a flourish, though leaving some unanswered questions.

The Escapist benefits from a certain level of realism, as characters don't do superhuman things, particularly Hopkins, who naturally seems unfamiliar with prison life, and has no real plan of action. Jonny Lee Miller's performance as a determined but warped man, who abandons all, carries the film. While Andy Serkis makes a major impression in limited screen time. Jodhi May is quite good as Hopkins' sister in law, and Gary Lewis as Ron, Hopkins' cellmate, provides some much needed aid. The premise that a person could slip through the system, and remain unidentified, is hard to believe. Prisoners appear to have too much freedom, while Hopkins appears to posses supernatural healing abilities. Still, putting the improbabilities aside, The Escapist does provide some gritty thrills. Unfortunately, this widescreen release offers nothing in the way of extras, not even a trailer.

This film was too hard to follow. There were lots of undeveloped characters and unresolved plot lines and unexplained roles/ action. For instance:

1. What exactly was the black chemist in the movie making? And to whom was he selling it? And in exchange for what?

2. What was the point of a man cutting off his finger? For whom and for what benefit?

3. Exactly what was the daughter dying of that made it such that the man had to escape? In prisons (in the USA, at least), people are able to get released for one day to go to a loved one's funeral. Do you mean to tell me the same thing couldn't happen in a British prison?

4. If the inmate wanted to kill himself (which, at LONG LAST turned out to be the point of the movie), then wasn't there a less difficult way to do it than getting stabbed through the kidneys by a man that he had provoked to kill him?

5. What was the point of a man in prison wearing a wig and woman's dress to taunt new inmates as they were brought in? And better yet, where did all this stuff come from? How is it that prisoners are completely free to roam any point in the prison and kill each other? Do the Europeans really do it that differently?

Maybe this is just a British thing (you have to have a real acquired taste to get their sense of humor-- and maybe you have to acquire another type of taste entirely to get their sense of drama). But I just don't feel like using the time that it takes to watch this over again to try to get a deeper understanding.

Those who have seen and enjoyed prison movies such as Blood in Blood Out and the TV series Prison Break will probably like The Escapist. One wonders if the authors of the Prison Break TV series which began in 2005 saw The Escapist which was released in 2001. In The Escapist the hero commits a crime in order to get into prison to reap his revenge on the brute who tried to rape his pregnant wife and caused her death. In Prison Break the hero stages a fake bank robbery to get into jail with a ready-made elaborate plan to escape with his brother in the prison's death row due to go to the electric chair for a murder he did not commit as a result of a set up. In both cases the heroes are thirty something, extraordinarily resourceful and good looking. Here, aside from prison scenery the resemblance ends as will any further mention of Prison Break in this review.

Denis Hopkins (Jonny Lee Miller) begins his story by telling us that he was troubled by how perfect his life had become. He was a well-paid professional air pilot and also flies his own little leisure plane while his lovely wife expecting their first child watches his stunts from the garden. They dwelt comfortably in a beautiful Victorian stone- faced house right on the shores of what seems to be one of the Scottish firths. Was it a dream and too good to last? It was, indeed too perfect, he relates, something does go dreadfully wrong. In all but one outdoor scene the sun is not shining (perhaps on purpose because the bad things have not yet happened then). It is cloudy, wet or grimly damp. Needless to say the prison scenes are in gray tones as well. Aside from the opening relatively sunny scene one wonders why they used color film at all. The outdoor scenes appear to have been shot in the northern parts of the British Isles probably the in the lowlands of Scotland.

One night three ruffians break in to burgle the couple's house while they are asleep. Their leader Ricky Barnes (Andy Serkis who played the creature Gollum in The Lord of the Rings epic) is more than just a burglar, he is psychotic. The wife wakes up and disturbs her husband. She explains she is feeling a tad hungry and goes downstairs to get a nibble from the fridge, while the burglars hide. She is immediately seized by them, as they find her attractive, and they ask her if there is anyone else in the house. The troubled husband comes down to see what happens and then the horror begins. Barnes refuses the offer of their car and a sum of money to leave but exclaims that that is nothing compared to what Denis has; the house and the lovely wife. While at gunpoint Dennis tries to intervene after the attempt to rape his wife who is then shot in the chest by Barnes. As they leave Barnes tells Denis he will let him live, presumably so he can suffer the endless pain of what has happened.

His wife dies from her wounds in surgery but a healthy baby girl is born by a Caesarean operation. Ricky Barnes and his gang are caught and they are sent for trial where Barnes receives a 20-year prison but boasts that he will escape as he did once from Britain's Dartmoor. Denis screams at the crown prosecutor that twenty years is not enough but is told that Barnes will serve his sentence in a remote British Alacatraz in the middle of the North Sea from which there is no hope of escape (the prosecutor was evidently unfamiliar with Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo).

Later in a group therapy session Denis declares he cannot put everything behind him since his life has been destroyed while at the same time he has nothing to look forward to. A short while later he leaves the house and the baby with his sister while - unknown to anyone- he fakes a suicidal death by crashing his small plane into the sea. Making sure the police find his life jacket but no corpse. His plan is to commit a crime and get into the prison system so that eventually he can catch up with Barnes and get his revenge. In his first crime he smashes up a parked police car with a sledge hammer. When arrested he refuses to give any name or explain his action and receives a light sentence in a comfortable prison for lack of a criminal record. This is not exactly what he wants. He soon finds out that the best way to be downgraded to more secure and worse prisons is to behave badly and commit the offence of trying to escape and ultimately the worst crime of actually escaping. After several "attempts" to escape, Denis is closer to his goal as each deliberately inane attempt lands him in a worse prison. He is befriended at first by a humorous Anglo-African inmate, who is brutally murdered by one of the burglar gang.

However, the cell-mate who changes everything for him is a wily but decent Scotsman (here many film buffs may need to put the English sub-titles on as the man's accent is very thick). The Scotsman is serving a long sentence and is desperate to really escape, so they pool their skills. After all Denis thinks a real escape would mean more punishment than even another attempted one might warrant. It seems that as a sideline Denis is a skilled metal while Ron (Gary Lewis) has been working for a while on an unusually kind guard who has voluntarily done him so many humane favours that he would lose his job if the governor found out. They use these favours as a way of blackmail so the outraged guard is obliged to help them escape.

Once on the run, Denis tells Ron that his intention is to be caught and that for Ron's sake they had better split. But a very puzzled Ron - who seems to have developed a friendly and protective affection for Denis - insists that Denis first tells him his story. Ron is a useful character for the storyline as it unfolds not only for helping in the escape but also later in the film. Ironically the police fail to catch either Ron or Denis so our hero has to give himself up. He is now downgraded to a very rough and grim holding prison before being sent to the island. News has reached Barnes, by a twist I shall not disclose, that Denis is there and easily guesses his purpose but Denis will be useful to him. Implausibly (but a critical prop for the end scenes of the film) the prison island also includes a grim anthracite mine and processing plant where the chained prisoners are made to do hard labor. Through a corrupt and most inhumane guard Barnes sends word that he wishes to meet Denis near the mine plan. Is this going to be the final stand-off? Rest assured the ending is unexpected and a brilliant twist. One of the final lines in the movie is "An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind". Could well have been a better title for the movie.

this film was very intertaining from the start. its about a man(jonny lee miller)whos pregnant wife is murderd and he is left alive by the killer(andy sekris). he then spend the rest of the movie trying to figure out how to get revenge for his wifes murder. so he gets himself thrown in jail to get the killer. i wont give the rest away, but heed my words its worth watching. good acting all the way around. good directing and a fun story. give this one a shot.

Johnny Lee Miller, co-star of three films released this year (Melinda and Melinda, Aeon Flux, and Mindhunters), stars here as a wealthy young pilot named Denis. He was the husband to his pregnant wife who gets murdered by a freak house thief. This killer isn't just a murderer he is a scumbag from hell (insane)
So anyway, Barnes is captured and sentenced to one of Britain's nastiest and most escape-proof prisons. Denis (miller) wants to get himself arrested so he can be in the same prison to take the guy out.
This movie is simple, fast-paced, solid and I really enjoyed it.