Escape Room: Review by @Kush_Hayes
Cube, Cabin in the Woods, The Exam, shades of Hostile, theres even a full on reference to 1998s The Game in Columbia Pictures debut film for 2019 and much like all those movies listed above, this is also fun.
We start our movie with high tension drama that continues to escalate as the subject on screen is clearly going through one of the trials for the titular Escape Room. As as it ratchets up, you find yourself digging your fingernails into the armrest of the seats in the theater. As most thrillers, this is just the sample of what we are in store for over the next 90 mins.
We begin to meet a few of our characters. Living their mundane lives. All troubled as commented on by the supporting character in the room with them. Quite honestly, Id say that two of the three we meet with in development, seem to be living their best lives. Only one of them is not meeting his potential and begging for extra shifts while being denied and called out for drinking on the job.
Personal Trauma, for lack of a better word is what all six of our subjects have in common and it is our main character Zoey who theorizes that it was the “high unlikely probability of surviving” each of their experiences is what drew them together.
I feel like they could have taken time to discover the other three characters more, and maybe the bigger parts of their story were cut for time. A lot of this movie is “intense beats” and “panicked shouting”.
The Bar Set in the middle of the Escape Room trials is really cool visually. Lots of great angles and use of the camera, throwing off the audience's perspective. Quite frankly it looks like it was even a fun scene to film as well.
As we walked into our screening tonight, there were several signs in the hallway stating that a scene in the theater may disturb anyone who is prone to seizures or headaches. Ultimately when we get to the scene these signs were referring to, I found the strobe effect to be very minimal.
Also, continuing the tradition of SONY Horror, all the color in this movie is muted, much like Slenderman and The Possession of Hannah Grace. And while it is one of my major gripes, in this case it is probably helping to reduce the number of visual problems for an audience member with the scene between our final two male protagonists.
Escape Room isn’t anything new, but its enjoyable and I think it will surprise people opening weekend, doing better than expected. You like all the characters. The audience seemed to respond well to the reveal at the climax of the movie as well as its ultimate sequel set up.
Three out of Six Blueberries.
Rated PG-13 for TERROR/PERILOUS ACTION, VIOLENCE, SOME SUGGESTIVE MATERIAL AND LANGUAGE
This review was originally published Jan 3rd 2019 on Kush And Kai
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