Movie Review - Escape Room (2019)

In 2013, the SyFy network premiered a game show called Exit. It was based on a Japanese series called Dero! (2010). In the series, the contestants compete to escape four rooms that hold a different challenge. The challenges are brain teasers and puzzles on a timer. The game show was reflective of the real-life scenarios that were popping up in cities all over the world. The real-life scenarios often have a theme, such as a prison, a space station, a tomb or a haunted house. The contestants would have to solve some kind of riddle, visual trick or numerical mystery that leads to a key or some way to unlock a door or hatch to get out. Usually, there are clues to help. In the series Exit, the rooms were like obstacle courses that had physical consequences. One was the Beam Room, which had the floor fall out beneath the contestants if they failed the challenges. Another was Freeze Blaster, which shot cold air at the contestants. Another is Wall Room, which seemingly squeezes the contestants with collapsing walls. Another was the Tank, which submerged contestants seemingly drowning them. None of it was real and it was all in good fun.

Screenwriters Bragi F. Schut and Maria Melnik seem like they were inspired by that SyFy series because all the things I mentioned in the SyFy series show up in this narrative. There was another film of the same name as this one, directed and co-written by Will Wernick. This film, directed by Adam Robitel (Insidious: The Last Key), went into production around the time that Wernick's film premiered, but this one doesn't really feed off the other. Both were perhaps inspired by the SyFy series, but this one leans more into it than Wernick's version. However, Wernick's film could be more compared to James Wan's Saw (2004), whereas this one could be more compared to David Fincher's The Game (1997). This is nowhere near as good as that Fincher film, but the tone is more aligned than Wernick's film, which is more horror and torture porn.

Taylor Russell (Lost in Space and Falling Skies) stars as Zoey Davis, a shy college student who's currently studying science. Her shyness seems to be the result of a traumatic event in her life, giving her PTSD. Her college roommate tries to get her to go out more. One day, she gets a black box delivered to her, which is supposed to be a gift. At first, it seems like just a paper weight, but it's revealed to be a puzzle box. It's the size of one but it's not exactly a Rubik's Cube. It's not as complex, but when solved, it presents a ticket or invitation to Minos, a building that holds a series of escape rooms. She reluctantly goes, having easily solved the box.

Once there, she meets five other young people who have also gotten the invitation to Minos via a black box. All together, there are six. They get locked inside the building and have to find their way out. There are a total of six rooms from which they must leave. Most are lured into the building due to a cash prize. However, quickly they learn that the rooms have deadly consequences, so it quickly becomes not about the money but saving their own lives. They all start to freak out but realize they have to work together in order to survive. As they go along, the rooms not only mimick the rooms in the SyFy series but each one, more importantly, is tailored to a specific person or it echoes something from their lives. In addition to seeing how the characters solve the puzzles, the bigger mystery involves what happened in each of their lives that connects them.

Jay Ellis (Insecure and BET's The Game) co-stars as Jason Walker, a stockbroker who is very sexy and cocky. He has an office somewhere in a tall building in Chicago. He rides a motorcycle and has a scar on his right hand. Logan Miller (Love, Simon and Before I Fall) also co-stars as Ben Miller, a clerk at a grocery store who's stuck in the back doing menial work. Unlike Jason who's there simply for the thrill, Ben is there because he needs the money. Ben is probably the most desperate. Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood and Daredevil) also co-stars as Amanda Harper, a soldier and Iraq War veteran, also suffering from PTSD. Tyler Labine (New Amsterdam and Reaper) plays Mike Nolan, a truck driver who used to work in a coal mine. Finally, Nik Dodani (Murphy Brown and Atypical) plays Danny Khan, an escape-room enthusiast.

The cast is all very good. The puzzles are slightly clever. The action of it all is paced and edited well enough that the whole thing never feels boring. Where it goes takes it even further from the character-developing or character-building kind of thriller that Fincher's The Game was and more into the kind of meaningless peril, fueled by some warped view of humanity, that has dominated a film franchise like The Purge (2013).

Rated PG-13 for peril, terror, violence, some suggestive material and language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 40 mins.

Available on DVD.