'Escape Room' is a Slick New Game of Corporate Evil

A film about 'escape rooms' is a super sure-fire, that the moment it became a thing, we all knew it's a blockbuster film waiting to happen... or, moreover, a film franchise. Just like Game Night? or anything tech-related in Black Mirror. It's just a matter of which genre would work best for it and obviously, a thriller is the best option.

Columbia Pictures

Escape Room is basically Saw except it has less gore. But that's not a loss, because it's way more fun than the latter with its slick and all-out rooms and clever puzzles. It doesn't hurt that it is closer to reality. One way or another, we have played these games with our friends or colleagues whether in an office or school activity or in a real 'Breakout', 'Lock down', 'Horror House' ran by corporations. No windows, lots of clues, but there seems to be no way out.

Screenwriters Bragi Schut and Maria Melnik designed 'rooms' that are as difficult to decipher as their twists. For one, the way the game commenced threw both the characters, who are all strangers to each other, and the audience in a loop, and it continues throughout its 99-minute running time. Their story has a way of misleading one's instinct that just when it hints that it could be a Saw for good selfless people, it shifts to way darker route.

The backstories of the six contrasting albeit typical strangers are also puzzle pieces to the story-- comprised of a loner science student, a young man who lives a self-destructive life, an army infantry-woman, an overconfident finance executive, a blue-collar truck driver, and a self-proclaimed escape room enthusiast. All are facing a bad trauma, and it's handily implied how they are all linked to each other with it but it's always a mystery why they were chosen. Are they secretly bad people? Do they have to change? Is there a lesson to be learned?

Columbia Pictures

The cast aggressively plays their clichéd characters well despite hitting all the checkbox in Cabin in the Woods shade. Deborah Ann Woll as an army Survivor is particularly outstanding. She doesn't only exceeds expectation from the usual alpha blonde in a thriller, she also exudes redemptive qualities with her heroics. Sure, they could all be annoying at times but that's part of the thrill in a popcorn film.

It goes beyond 'popcorn' though, as it says a lot of evil things about corporations and rich people which is part of the twists they unfortunately over-explained in its climax. It says some points about corporations flourishing in people's love for watching people killing other people to survive. Funny how it also reflects the same thing in cinema.

The out-of-the-box depth is appreciated but Escape Room is way more fun and thrilling when it's about people actually trying to escape hyper hot and spine-chilling rooms while agitating each other with their aggravating personalities.

This is the most fun I've had in the theaters so far this year. I can't wait to watch more of its franchise until it gets tired.