56
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Film ThreatFilm ThreatOn top of the tried-and-true prison genre formula coupled with the misfit gang formula, Rupert Wyatt's "he Escapist flips everything on its ear by playing out in two timelines simultaneously.
- 80Village VoiceVillage VoiceA taut thriller that ends on a note of unexpected grace.
- 75Portland OregonianShawn LevyPortland OregonianShawn LevyHollywood used to make a fair number of films like The Escapist (sigh: remember grown-up dramas?), and it's a satisfying variation on a once-familiar theme.
- 70The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisThe New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisShapes a standard prison-break drama into a metaphysical study of freedom and reparation.
- It makes for an unexpectedly welcome form of dramatic escape: the character study breaking free from a hoary old movie genre.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterAll of this mayhem keeps us watching, but it would be hard to describe the experience as pleasurable.
- 40New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierThe splintered viewpoints help with the monotony, but from the taunting of new inmates to the cell-block sadist, we've gone through all this before, right down to the final twists.
- 38New York PostKyle SmithNew York PostKyle SmithIt all leads nowhere. There are pull-the-rug-out endings, and then there are pull-the-floor-out endings. The Escapist leaves you standing on nothing, like Wile E. Coyote, wondering why you bothered to come this far.
- 30L.A. WeeklyScott FoundasL.A. WeeklyScott FoundasAll might have been forgiven were it not for a needlessly Shyamalanized ending that deserves to earn Wyatt at least 25 years for grand-theft cinema.