In this direct sequel to the original, Ray Breslin (Stallone) is hired to infiltrate a disused prison where the daughter of a Hong Kong billionaire is being held by Lester Clark Jr. Escape Plan: Nobody Asked For This (that last one may have been made up), which sees Sylvester Stallone feign some interest for more than the 15 minutes he was on-screen in the previous movie, of which this movie barely references. But it did set up a third movie that somebody actually greenlit. Escape Plan 2 (or Escape Plan 2: Hades, as it was known in certain territories) arrived to little fanfare last year and things weren’t good – Schwarzenegger did not return and was ‘replaced’ by an underused Dave Bautista ( Spectre/ Guardians of the Galaxy), Stallone came back and had top billing but probably spent more time in the accounts department collecting his cheque than he did in front of the camera, the plot was daft, the action dull (apart from Bautista stepping into Arnie’s shoes by looking mean whilst mowing down goons with a huge gun) and the whole thing felt like a cheap cash-in and a total waste of time that was reflected in its financial returns. You watched 2013s Escape Plan because it brought together iconic action stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in a co-headliner that was a fun blast of exaggerated violence that harked back to their glory days (despite being tinged with sadness that it wasn’t made 25 years ago while both actors were still huge box office draws). Okay, you knew this was coming, don’t pretend you didn’t. Security expert Ray Breslin and his cohorts have to break into a prison to rescue a billionaire’s daughter from the clutches of a former colleague’s son out for revenge. It also plays that DTV trick of promising big name stars on the poster and failing to deliver - Dave Bautista appears fitfully and Stallone only a little more.Starring Sylvester Stallone, Dave Bautista, Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson, Jin Zhang, Harry Shum Jr., Jaime King, and Devon Sawa. This one is rooted firmly in bargain bin action licks circa 1992 and has little invention or charm to up the ante. Previous Escape Plans had a sci-fi tinge. Daya and Breslin’s partner Abby (Jaime King) are being held hostage by a goon (Devon Sawa) with a grudge against Breslin that stretches back to events in the first film (don’t worry we didn’t remember either). The reheated old guff that passes for a plot sees Breslin and his cohorts (Bautista, Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson, Jaime King) looking to extract Daya (Malese Jow), the daughter of a Hong Kong tech giant (Russell Wong) from a giant Latvian penitentiary ominously known as Devil’s Landing. Rather than a prison break, this time round it’s a break in. Third time round for Stallone’s 4th string franchise ( Rocky, Rambo, The Expendables are all higher up the cinematic food chain) the emphasis here is less on the problem solving of previous outings and more a dull cycle through grim punch-ups, bad acting and blatant attempts to woo the Chinese market - The Grandmaster’s Jin Zhang and Crazy Rich Asians’ Harry Shum Jr have prominent if, like everyone else, underwritten roles in the melee. “I’m done with prisons,” drawls Sylvester Stallone’s security expert Ray Breslin and watching Escape Plan 3 it’s hard to disagree.
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