![]() That is precisely where the cracks in his otherwise fun film start showing. Here and there, one notices Robitel trying to push against the limitations of genre. The puzzles and clues vary in degrees of cleverness and challenge. The rooms boast of exceptional production design, surreal and immersive. Once all the boxes for stereotypes have been ticked, Robitel hurls his characters from one escape room full of perils to the next, leaving them to use their wits, and each other, to survive. A socially awkward genius girl, an alcoholic loser, a stiff financial trader and finally, the over-friendly creep. Then there is the Hollywood version of the strong female, in this case a war veteran. They even have an Indian-American all-knowing nerd gamer who bemoans that none of the others seem to want to have fun. Granted, the characters might just have been borrowed from other films. So blood and gore, often crucial to the sub-genre, are out. If they manage to be a whole lot of fun while at it, you are guaranteed a good time at the movies.Įscape Room is good fun for a majority of its runtime, especially considering that Robitel has been tasked with making a PG 13 film within this genre. But what they have going for them is the opportunity presented for a meticulous construction of the ‘maze’ the characters must find their way out of. Schadenfreude aside, these films run the risk of being awfully predictable, which could turn away a substantial chunk of the audience. These films thrive on the sadistic pleasure derived from seeing people turn into the worst versions of themselves for, in the words of Jason, a character from the film, “survival of the fittest”. None of this will appear new to anyone who has watched Saw, Cube, The Belko Experiment or the scores of films from the strangers-in-a-room horror sub-genre. They realise they are not just playing for a few thousand dollars. ![]() ![]() Jackson’s Secret Invasion review: The great- grand-daddy of the Marvel Universe is back, but… Gerald Butler's Kandahar movie review: Mindless action film without a soul
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