No Escape, film review

(15) John Erick Dowdle, 103 mins Starring: Lake Bell, Owen Wilson, Pierce Brosnan

The thriller No Escape has one or two moments of brilliance interspersed with many very silly ones. It is at its best early on. An all-American family (husband-and-wife Owen Wilson and Lake Bell with their two daughters) arrive in an unspecified country in South East Asia where the husband, Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson), is about to start a new job. Everything throws them. There are power cuts in the hotel where they are staying. They can't work out the motives of the flamboyant but sinister British ex-pat (Pierce Brosnan) who seeks to befriend them. In the best scene in the movie, Jack goes out to buy a newspaper from a shop in what seems to be a deserted street and suddenly finds himself in the middle of a bloody, full-scale revolution.

John Erick Dowdle, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother, Drew, has an obvious flair for filming action. As long as the family here is in full-flight mode, the film generates plenty of excitement. There are even echoes of The Night of the Hunter as the parents and the little girls flee. The moment the film-makers pause to explain the characters and the background, No Escape collapses. The Americans' jingoistic attitude toward the Asians is very jarring and a speech late on about the consequences of Western interference in the country rings very hollow. Brosnan's initially intriguing performance lapses into action-man, sub-Bond caricature.