ESCAPE ROOM

Escape Room Movie Review

Six strangers find themselves playing an escape room game, but this one comes with deadly consequences. If you don't know what an escape room game is, you may have been living under a rock the past several years. The idea is a group of people are locked in a room (or series of rooms) and must find clues to escape within a certain amount of time. These games have become quite the craze and are popping up all over--my girlfriend and I are one for two in our conquests. Speaking of living under a rock, I may have been doing just that in January 2019, as that is when this film hit theaters and I have absolutely zero recollection of this. Watching the movie, I am actually somewhat surprised this one hit the big screen, as it kind of has that direct to video look and feel, but hey, it made money, so kudos for that. The movie starts by introducing some of the characters before they make it to the room, and we see them all end up with intricate boxes that are hard to open--a Hellraiser comparison would be more than fair.

Ask Pinhead for help

That won't be the only movie this one reminds you of. Years before escape rooms became a thing, there was this movie called Cube that got little attention upon its release but was a favorite among those who were aware of it--I remember picking up a used VHS of it at a local video store way back and becoming a fan as soon as I watched the movie. Anyway, Cube was essentially an escape room game with deadly consequences before escape room games, or movies based on escape room games, but with deadly consequences, existed. Escape Room even uses different colored lighting in each room, much the same way Cube did.

It feels like Orlando in August in here

The very end of the movie also heavily borrows from other films--if you are reminded simultaneously of Final Destination and Inception, you are not alone. Thievery aside, there is some stuff to like about this film. The idea that clues are placed along the way that these people were not chosen at random is kind of cool, and some of the rooms are very well thought out. The acting isn't horrible either, making the characters believable. The theatrical release is evident in one particular way--the language lacks much profanity, and there is little bloodshed--gotta get that PG-13 rating you know! The return to the scene of the crime was teased as the ending, and had they gone with this, the movie would have rated higher here, but after that scene the finale falls apart entirely. Escape Room certainly is not a bad movie; it's just one that lifts a lot of ideas from much better films, and isn't one that will ever be considered a classic (though the combination of the ending and the box-office success do hint at a possible franchise in the making).

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 6

Escape Room Movie Trailer