No Escape Was on TV Last Night – 100 Days of Sci-Fi
No Escape was one of those little movies that you see on TV and never take time to watch. Last night I decided that it was time to watch it, and so I did. Capt. JT Robbins is sent to a prison for the assassination of his general officer, the kind of prison you only get out of when you’re dead. And unlike a normal prison this was more like an island that all the inmates get tossed upon.
The prison manager has bought himself an island where he allows the prisoners to run free and monitors them from a ship off the coast (I think it was a ship), with tons of automated procedures put in place to make sure that no one can leave the island, along with nature’s own little surprises. This is where Capt. Robbins is dropped off after he almost kills the prison manager.
At the very beginning of the movie when Robbins is dropped off in paradise, there is a very good scene that involves the leader of the first society of criminals that Robbins runs into. He is asked to join the bad guys and offered a position in their ranks, but only after he proves himself. He is given the challenge to fight the largest man in the group. He was obviously being set up to be killed for their entertainment, but as soon as the fight starts, he takes the weapon that he’s been given, a knife, and throws it as hard as he can into his opponents chest killing him instantly. This of course gives him the respect of the leader, and that follows an attempt to recruit him.
Robbins pretends at first that he may join them, tricks the leader, making him look like a fool, then makes a run for it. Capt. Robbins is apparently very well-trained in survival, and is very good at avoiding booby-traps in the woods. He continues to outsmart them and runs downstream. For the most part he avoids these booby-traps or allows them to kill the opponents chasing him. At the end, there’s a large cliff and waterfall, and when he gets hit by a dart, he passes out unconscious and falls over the edge of the waterfall.
When Capt. Robbins awakens, he finds himself lying in a bed, his wounds being tended. This is where the movie gets interesting: he has basically escaped half of the island being run by the crazies and arrived at the second half of the island being run by a semi-civilized gang of folks who just simply want to survive and have a life on the island of hell. He later finds out that he is the first to make it to them sense the spilt of the communities some years back.
The battle between good and evil takes place, and Capt. Robbins seems to be the perfect addition to this group, but with his mindset on getting off the island, there seems to be little that he’s willing to help with, work for, or offer either group for his continued survival. He simply wants to be left alone to find his own way off the island.
No Escape’s cast includes Ray Liotta playing Capt. JT Robbins, Lance Hendriksen playing The Father (leader of the semi-civilized civilization on the second half of the island,) Stuart Wilson playing Walker Marek, Kevin Dillon playing Casey, Kevin J O’Connor playing Steffeno, Don Anderson playing Killian, Ian McNeice playing King, Jack Shepherd playing Dysart, Michael Lerner playing The Warden, Ernie Hudson playing Hawkins, Russell Kiefel playing Iceman, Brian M Logan playing Scab, Cheuk-Fai Chan playing skull, Machs Colombani playing Ratman, and David Argue playing Cellmate.
I am not even sure where to start on the bad parts of this movie. There was so much wrong with it, including starting with the warden guarding the island with military choppers, radar equipment, and an entire team in a control room full of expensive equipment. This creates all kinds of security problems, for a secret island prison. The island is being kept secret from the world as it’s obviously not okay to just throw your prisoners on a island, then just watch them and keep them literally in the dark. But at times the Warden is worried about fires that they start, things being picked up on satellites. I’m not sure exactly what kind of savings could’ve possibly been compared to a normal prison. I mean really if he had so little respect for the people, and an unwillingness to actually do anything to take care of them, why doesn’t he just simply kill everyone on the island and pretend it never happened?
No Escape is one of those movies that could have been something but had so many problems in so many issues that it was almost frustrating to watch. I would rate No Escape at a 5.5 out of a possible high score of 10. No Escape is also part of my 100 days of sci-fi where I review 100 sci-fi movies in 100 different days. I hope that you will return for some of the other reviews, below is a list of a few others:
Review: Waterworld – 100 Days of Sci-Fi
Jurassic Park was on TV Tonight – 100 Days of Sci-Fi
The Amazing Transparent Man – 100 Days of Sci-Fi
