Starring: Taylor Russell, Logan Miller, Thomas Cocquerel, Indya Moore, Holland Roden
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Runtime: 88 mins. Reviewed in Jul 2021
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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Escape Room seems a modest enough title for a horror film. But: Tournament of Champions seems a bit much for this sequel.
In 2019, Escape Room was a box office success, especially with younger audiences who could identify, in age, with the central characters. The studios were pleased with the success and the sequel was, more than perhaps, inevitable. And, in fact, it is something of a rerun of the original. Again, there is the threatening anonymous company which makes these lethal puzzles and games. Again, the survivors from the first film, Zoe and Ben (Russell and Miller) become involved in the new set of rooms to be escape from. But, Zoe, mourning the death of Amanda in the first film, is intent this time to defeat the company, Minos.
Just in case the action of the first film was not in the forefront of our memories, this sequel opens with a slick trailer-like collage to remind us. Zoe is also seeing a psychiatrist who warns her that anything she observes can become a clue to her puzzle – but this still does not solve her problem, her fear of flying. So, she persuades Ben to drive to New York for the confrontation, the Tournament.
One has to say that the pacing of these films is sometimes breathtaking – fast, dramatic, jolting. This is especially the case when the trapped characters are desperately trying to work out where the clues are, what the clues are, what the clues mean, going to action in time before they are trapped, the eagerness to get to the next room where the potential entrapment opens all over again.
Zoe and Ben are tricked into chasing a purse-snatcher into the New York subway, knocking people out of the way, then trapped in a carriage. It becomes ominous. The random collection of characters in the carriage inevitably turn out to be past survivors of Minos games.
We don’t learn particularly much about the others, especially as it is a variation of ‘And then there were none…’. However, one of the older ones is of more interest, Nate (Coquerel) who turns out to be a priest who had participated in the game where, with fellow priests, their faith had been tested in their attempts to escape entrapment. He feels guilty as the sole survivor. And he will have the opportunity to atone for his behaviour, literally reaching out to save another.
What makes the film interesting is that there are four set pieces, escape rooms, to test ingenuity. There is the train carriage. There is a rather sophisticated room full of deadly traps, keys and locks. There is an artificial sequence by the sea, the background painted, a lighthouse, a shop, but the seashore quicksand. And, finally, a New York setting with acid rain.
There is a twist, actually several twists at the end, Amanda reappearing and explaining what has happened, Zoe being tested about her aims of confronting the company and the possibility of saving Ben. And, of course, and ending with Zoe actually on a plane, but…
While geared for the younger demographic, older audiences, like this reviewer, will quite enjoy the Escape Room films, even if sometimes rather out of breath.
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