What would make you throw your child off a roof? No, seriously, what? I watched the preview. I knew what was going to happen, I knew the outcome and I still couldn’t watch. I tip my hat to you, John Erick Dowdle, even if your film felt really, really xenophobic.
So we’re in “Southeast Asia.” We aren’t going to say where exactly, but from the clues given, it’s either Laos or Cambodia. Both of these countries are places that, well, nobody blames them if had held grudges against Americans. It’s a country where the leader’s image in statue or poster form graces most blocks; thank God our culture thinks that’s really gauche. I think our current Prez rocks, but I don’t want a statue of Obama on my block any more than Mitt Romney does. Before we meet the hero, the golden robe dude is assassinated, leaving behind a substantial cache of personalized trading cards and tacky jewelry.
Businessman/Engineer Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson) has brought his family to live in Laobodia while he makes money cleaning and exporting water. Oh my, do we need to import water these days? I mean, I knew we were in a drought, but … The opening is all about culture shock, which seems quaint because we secretly know the president is dead. The next morning, Jack goes out in search of a newspaper and returns home as the news – the country is in civil war and Jack has already had an adventure or two getting back to the hotel alive.
This sets the scene – Jack, his wife Annie (Lake Bell), and their two uncredited children have survived to the hotel rooftop. And then a bloodthirsty, American-hating mob arrives. The Dwyers have exactly two options: death and jumping off the roof of the hotel onto another building. The camerawork is stunning here; there’s no establishing shot showing exactly the distance or the height offset. We only get the idea that there’s a significant gap in-between the structures which Lake Bell can reasonably clear, but the two small girls won’t, so Jack has to jack ‘em one at a time into Annie’s waiting arms. Personally, I’d go for the relatively larger girl first, but I suppose the drama rises with the more difficult task.
So I ask again, what would make you throw your child off a roof?
Owen Wilson can play a character with something to lose … what were the odds? I’m stretching my memory and … seriously not finding the role where Owen played a man with a significant attachment going into the film. I’m sure it’s happened, but boy, the titles are not racing to mind – he always seems to be that happy-go-lucky douche doling out advice to family men and others he can’t relate to. It’s almost
refreshing to think he might be a guy who understands what it is to value something so commonplace as a spouse or children.
No Escape gets political, which acts as boon and detriment. When it describes why the locals want American blood, it seems sorta reasonable – which is nice cuz up until that point I was thinking this was the most xenophobic film I’d ever seen – it has absolutely no love of this strange foreign culture and screams, “this never would have happened if you stayed in Texas!” OTOH, there’s the destruction of a U.S. Embassy in the film … without a U.S. retaliation or intervention of some sort. We know that just ain’t possible – but within the context of the film, it means the Dwyers are on their own versus an entire nation of crazed locals, which is a pretty good, if intensely paranoid and xenophobic, plot.
♪Looking out at the road for Khmer Rouge, Mach 2
Looking back at the white folks these guys already slew
At 6:15 I was new in town and greeted to endear
Twelve hours later, they want my severed head on a spear
(Running on) Running for safety
(Running on) Running scared
(Running on) Running into the streets so to save our behinds♫
Rated R, 103 Minutes
D: John Erick Dowdle
W: John Erick Dowdle, Drew Dowdle
Genre: The battleground between xenophobia and possibility
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Nail biters
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Pacifists
♪ Parody inspired by “Running on Empty”
