Escape Plan (2013) * *

Directed by:  Mikael Hafstrom

Starring:  Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Amy Ryan, Jim Caviezel, Vincent Donofrio, Sam Neill

Escape Plan is the type of movie that works if you completely accept its absurdities at face value.     Some are able to and bless them.     I, however, am not always able to do so.      It is both a blessing and a curse.     I tend to start asking questions and looking for logic when none is warranted.      Does that hamper my enjoyment of this film, which otherwise is a well-made action film with Stallone and Schwarzenegger elevating the material?     Yes, I'm afraid so.

The film opens with convict Ray Breslin (Stallone) escaping from a Colorado prison even after being placed in solitary confinement.      It turns out Stallone is not a prisoner at all, but a security company agent who works undercover for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.  He escapes from prisons to point out their security flaws.      Why someone would want to expose themselves to the horrors of prison for this line of work is puzzling.    Stallone does provide an explanation later, but it doesn't necessarily illuminate us.     Besides, is he even held accountable for the prisoners he assaulted to land himself in solitary?  

Anyway, we accept the premise as best we can and move on.     Ray and his partner (D'Onofrio) are offered a high paying job from the CIA.     Ray will be placed in a prototype prison designed to hold prisoners who are unwanted by their governments.      The prison is run by a private corporation under no country's jurisdiction.     It is designed to be inescapable by Warden Boggs (Caviezel) who used Ray's book on securing prisons as a reference guide.     Boggs, as played by Caviezel, is a cold, evil prick not unlike Donald Sutherland's Drumgoole in the Stallone vehicle Lock Up (1990), which I liked better than this film.     If I were Boggs, though, I would inquire as to who I pissed off to be assigned the warden of this hellhole prison in the middle of nowhere.     Based on his personality, probably many people.

Ray is soon befriended by another prisoner named Rottmayer (Schwarzenegger), who helps Ray in his quest to escape.     Also assisting Ray is a kindly doctor (Neill), although I may need to refer to Wikipedia's plot summary for Escape Plan to determine how Ray was able to nudge him over to his side.     Something about the Hippocratic Oath and page 88 of his book, but I'm not quite sure.     It seems Boggs is also tasked by his superiors to locate the whereabouts of a guy named Manheim, whose very existence threatens the corporation's profits.    The whole Manheim thing is immaterial anyhow. 

Aside from a couple of spells in a state-of-the-art hot boxes, Ray and company freely roam around plotting their escape.    Boggs watches them through security cameras that are very easy to disable.    I suppose Boggs skipped that chapter in Ray's book.     I won't proceed further to prevent plot spoilers, although once they are sprung, I couldn't help but ask about their logistics.    Stallone and Schwarzenegger rise above the dreck with humor and a wink.     They have to know they are involved in a silly premise, but they manage to involve us more than we should expect.     If they weren't in the film, it might be close to intolerable.      Plus, if you reflect on the actions of the person who set all of this in motion, you would be tempted to ask why that person made this harder on himself/herself than necessary.     Sorry, but I am just the type of person who asks those questions.