I took my time with this film, coming up with a rating and re-watching it with a bigger time lag between watches, not least because I've been busy. I do believe this movie is a bit of a "diamond in the rough." It really has a lot to say about the world and what's important in it.
For wit I came down on a 9. My first indicator was comparison with The English Patient, which I watched for the first time last year. That movie had a certain perfection to its scenes and events that made them simultaneously fantastic and believable. I never thought, "That's a bit far-fetched " but I was often surprised by the turn of the action. These things earned it a 9.5 for wit and for this reason, The Escapist did not earn a 9.5. As I went further, I came upon Get Low. In terms of wit this one has a lot of positives and negatives. Its plot doesn't always do much for me, but it has some fantastic bits of dialogue and action. The Escapist earns its 9, by not dipping as low, maintaining a constancy, without managing the better moments of Get Low.
Beyond this, I'd like to highlight the phenomenal central performance by Brian Cox. I absolutely think he's one of the finer actors produced by Ireland, which is saying something from my perspective. Joseph Fiennes is wonderful as always. It makes me rue even more the cancellation of FlashForward. Seu Jorge, who I haven't seen in a movie since The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou repeats his performance as the quiet type, but stuns you with the way he can keep you engaged just watching his movement. Dominic Cooper is as good here as he's ever been, even if he's not doing anything new.
The two best performances are not really where they ought to be, but I appreciate them anyway. Damian Lewis and Steven Mackintosh play brothers in the prison and they both absolutely frightened me. Damian Lewis switches between the coldness of some of the better scenes I've seen on Homeland and the blank sincerity that made me love the show Life. Steven Mackintosh plays a level of slimy I would not have thought him capable of, except that he does the same thing later in Luther, though I saw that before I saw this. They both make your skin crawl, one for shriveling weakness and the other for terrifyingly quiet confidence.
My biggest complaint is something like the one I have about Ocean's 12, which I'm sure I've shared around. The ending, in some ways, negates so much of the prior action that you wonder what good the action did in the first place. This film doesn't exactly go as far as that, but it is a little anti-climactic.
Now when thinking about wisdom in films, I often like to establish a baseline and add and subtract for various moral points of the film. To begin with, this is a prison escape movie. No one here claims to be innocent; there are no extenuating circumstances. Everyone here is trying to get out, despite having committed a crime. This easily puts us in the 8-8.5 range. Not a positive place to start, but it gets better. I believe that this is not really about criminals, in a sense, but about freedom vs. slavery. No mention is made of crimes or justice. It is all about escaping captivity. This settles it more on the 8.5 side. A key point that Brian Cox's character makes is that the king among slaves is still less than the lowest among free men. He says it better, but he makes the point about imagination being all that keeps people alive in captivity. This further plays into the ending. This makes it on the high side of 9.
The priority of intelligence over strength is one of my pet issues. Brian Cox's character really helps it by making some tough positive decisions in the end. All this says 9.5 to me. And that's where it lands, but there is an annoying bit that reminded me of Sucker Punch, a movie I did not really like at all. It's all about justifying who gets away, as if it were right, despite not having any reason to justify it. Only a minor detail.
Wonder is an easy 9.5. The atmosphere of the prison and the whole escape sequence is perfect. The choice of music is brilliant, not least "The Partisan" by Leonard Cohen, which is used a couple times. It really sets the mood along with the composed score.
Overall, this film is definitely worth a watch and for me was worth at least two. I'm sure I will need at least one more if I'm to totally understand it.
For wit I came down on a 9. My first indicator was comparison with The English Patient, which I watched for the first time last year. That movie had a certain perfection to its scenes and events that made them simultaneously fantastic and believable. I never thought, "That's a bit far-fetched " but I was often surprised by the turn of the action. These things earned it a 9.5 for wit and for this reason, The Escapist did not earn a 9.5. As I went further, I came upon Get Low. In terms of wit this one has a lot of positives and negatives. Its plot doesn't always do much for me, but it has some fantastic bits of dialogue and action. The Escapist earns its 9, by not dipping as low, maintaining a constancy, without managing the better moments of Get Low.
Beyond this, I'd like to highlight the phenomenal central performance by Brian Cox. I absolutely think he's one of the finer actors produced by Ireland, which is saying something from my perspective. Joseph Fiennes is wonderful as always. It makes me rue even more the cancellation of FlashForward. Seu Jorge, who I haven't seen in a movie since The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou repeats his performance as the quiet type, but stuns you with the way he can keep you engaged just watching his movement. Dominic Cooper is as good here as he's ever been, even if he's not doing anything new.
The two best performances are not really where they ought to be, but I appreciate them anyway. Damian Lewis and Steven Mackintosh play brothers in the prison and they both absolutely frightened me. Damian Lewis switches between the coldness of some of the better scenes I've seen on Homeland and the blank sincerity that made me love the show Life. Steven Mackintosh plays a level of slimy I would not have thought him capable of, except that he does the same thing later in Luther, though I saw that before I saw this. They both make your skin crawl, one for shriveling weakness and the other for terrifyingly quiet confidence.
My biggest complaint is something like the one I have about Ocean's 12, which I'm sure I've shared around. The ending, in some ways, negates so much of the prior action that you wonder what good the action did in the first place. This film doesn't exactly go as far as that, but it is a little anti-climactic.
Now when thinking about wisdom in films, I often like to establish a baseline and add and subtract for various moral points of the film. To begin with, this is a prison escape movie. No one here claims to be innocent; there are no extenuating circumstances. Everyone here is trying to get out, despite having committed a crime. This easily puts us in the 8-8.5 range. Not a positive place to start, but it gets better. I believe that this is not really about criminals, in a sense, but about freedom vs. slavery. No mention is made of crimes or justice. It is all about escaping captivity. This settles it more on the 8.5 side. A key point that Brian Cox's character makes is that the king among slaves is still less than the lowest among free men. He says it better, but he makes the point about imagination being all that keeps people alive in captivity. This further plays into the ending. This makes it on the high side of 9.
The priority of intelligence over strength is one of my pet issues. Brian Cox's character really helps it by making some tough positive decisions in the end. All this says 9.5 to me. And that's where it lands, but there is an annoying bit that reminded me of Sucker Punch, a movie I did not really like at all. It's all about justifying who gets away, as if it were right, despite not having any reason to justify it. Only a minor detail.
Wonder is an easy 9.5. The atmosphere of the prison and the whole escape sequence is perfect. The choice of music is brilliant, not least "The Partisan" by Leonard Cohen, which is used a couple times. It really sets the mood along with the composed score.
Overall, this film is definitely worth a watch and for me was worth at least two. I'm sure I will need at least one more if I'm to totally understand it.
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