No Escape 2015

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: No Escape is an outlandish, sometimes brutally violent, exploitative, fast-paced white-knuckler featuring your classic American everyman who suddenly develops action-hero skills when his family is placed in danger. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: No Escape is bare-bones, shameless, and too obnoxious to stay suspenseful for long. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Writer-director John Eric Dowdle makes the street action propulsive, bewildering and terrifyingly real, and things are just getting warmed up. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: A technically accomplished, morally rank slab of cultural exploitation ... Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: Despite its illegible chase scenes, awkward slow-motion shots, and fumbling attempts at political commentary, No Escape manages to be intermittently interesting, thanks to an off-beat supporting turn from Pierce Brosnan. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Bang, boom, bam. That's about the size of things in No Escape, a movie banking on its admittedly first-rate action drowning out its political tone-deafness. Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: Taut, well-made and entirely dubious. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Dowdle sticks closely to the family's perspective, for better and for worse; though fairly effective at conveying their terror, he fails to establish any sort of social or political context for the story. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: No Escape is pretty trashy, but it held my attention, which is more than I can say for most of the summer fodder. Read more

Kevin P. Sullivan, Entertainment Weekly: Even ignoring the racism-which is pretty much impossible-No Escape is a cliche-ridden, artless relic. Read more

Michael Granberry, Dallas Morning News: A nearly two-hour thrill ride that, tired cliche that it is, really does keep you on the edge of your seat. Read more

Stephen Dalton, Hollywood Reporter: Dowdle delivers enough adrenalized tension to maintain his track record of profitable, populist pulp. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: Supersize your popcorn, check your logic at the door and settle in for a pretty good ride. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: There's no fleeing the clunkiness in "No Escape." Read more

Daniel M. Gold, New York Times: Among the most terrifying scenes is an early shot of Mr. Brosnan in the hotel bar, shouting lyrics to a Huey Lewis tune. Oh, the horror. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: A taut thriller about an American family touching down in an unnamed country just as a violent coup erupts, No Escape goes about its gut-churning business by playing (and preying) on our worst xenophobic tendencies. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: This isn't lightweight, fanciful entertainment; it's tense, white-knuckle material. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: This movie really moves. But a fleet of tanks couldn't help the brothers Dowdle push past the plot holes in the screwiest mix of suspense and stereotypes since Michael Bay was a pup Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: If you've really been wanting to see endless shots of Owen Wilson running, sometimes while carrying a medium-sized child, the thriller "No Escape" might be just for you. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: Strict plausibility isn't necessary in these movies, but you can't just throw it out the window, and "No Escape" shows why. Read more

Julia Cooper, Globe and Mail: Whatever seeds of social justice and emotional nuance No Escape may be attempting to sow are undercut by the film's melodramatic valorization of family values. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: In terms of pure popcorn escapism, No Escape delivers from the get-go, cutting to the chase without belabouring the character details. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Between the script and the superior editing by Elliot Greenberg, there's an enormous amount of tension and thrills to be found here; unfortunately, they're all in the service of a movie that's reprehensible to the core. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: A thoroughly ugly film for an audience that doesn't care who's shooting whom. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: No Escape is as accomplished as it is vicious. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: No Escape takes the casual xenophobia of something like Taken, crossbreeds it with something altogether more noxious, then asks us to kick back and enjoy the ride. We don't. We can't. And the ride isn't that great to begin with. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: Every Asian character is either a ruthless murderer or anonymous collateral damage. A lot of locals have to die, the film suggests, in order for one white family to survive. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: I won't make a case for No Escape being a good film; the first half is pretty good and the second half ranges from pretty bad to truly awful. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: No Escape is a tense but utterly predictable exercise in Western xenophobic paranoia and guilt. Read more