Australian Penthouse

The Escapist
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Stars: Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Damian Lewis, Liam Cunningham
DV1

Review: Suzan Ryan

Five men. Four walls. One plan. Heist movies are a dime a dozen, as are prison break movies. Most are entertaining but very few are original. The plot of The Escapist harks back to the classic films of the 1940s, where seemingly simplistic plots fall away to reveal complex character studies, and internecine battles result in shocking revelation.

Written and directed by Rupert Wyatt, The Escapist provides a refreshing blend of character and plot that does not fail to fulfill. The impressive cast should hint to most that the film is not as basic in concept as the title might lead you to believe. Described by one reviewer as “The best escape drama since The Shawshank Redemption”, The Escapist delivers.

The plot revolves around middle-aged prisoner Frank Perry (Cox), a reserved and wary man who has come to terms with his life sentence and whose everyday life consists of staying under the radar of prison block heavies Rizza (a delightfully camp-yet-volatile Lewis) and his brother, the drug-addicted sadist, Tony (Steven Macintosh). Content to serve his time, Perry is shaken to discover, via letter from his ex wife, that his only child, a daughter now 21, has suffered a drug overdose and was now on life-support.

A surprise visit from his ex-wife a few weeks later—where no words are spoken, but everything is said through her torrent of tears— Perry understands that his daughter has died, along with his willingness to go gently into that good night. Perry becomes consumed with the idea of escape.

One by one, he enlists the interest and assistance of a select few inmates to help plan and execute a prison break. However, the team’s planning does not go unnoticed by Tony, who demands payment for his silence. But when the time for payment comes, an unexpected event has fatal consequences for Tony, and his brother Rizza demands answers. Knowing that Rizza’s methods of resolution will end in the death of one of his team, Perry hatches another plan—one unknown to his co-conspirators—that will trigger a chain of events that none of the men can imagine.