The worst film I've seen this year!
I just finished watching this film on DVD about half an hour ago. Where do I begin, this is definitely the worst film I've watched this year. In fact, it's probably in my top ten worst films of all time.
For starters, the plot was fairly original (although elements of "Fortress" and "Escape From New York" shone through), but failed to capture my attention as it was way too simple and seemed extremely undeveloped. The main thing I noticed about the awful plot, was that the film is all on one level from start to finish. It never peaks at any intervals at all, I can't remember one moment that sticks out in my mind.
As for this film being a great "action" flick, were we watching the same film? Apart from one uninspiring, so-called, battle sequence between the two sides of the island, this was action free. Speaking of which, the "battle" sequence seemed like a half-assed version of the climax of "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves". Another dire film "No Escape" reminded me of, was Waterworld (only without the water). It looked and felt cheap, the tribes wore similar ridiculous looking costumes and the acting was f--king terrible!
As the acting goes, this is Ray Liotta's poorest performance ever. He generally looks bored and somewhat embarrassed to be there. As for his co-stars, well, I think we know why they are largely unknowns.
The character development in this film was so bad, that about an hour in, I thought, if Ray Liotta dies right now, I wouldn't give a f--k!
There are so many little things about this film that were painful to watch. For example, why would prisoners who have been dumped on a maximum security island prison, start to wear native American-esque cloths that cover only their genitals and leave their asses hanging out? As soon as the antagonists tribe or gang (whatever you wanna' call them) appears, they are dressed in this manner and waving spears around like they're f--king Zulu’s or something. The rest however look like rejects from "Mad Max 2"!
Another thing that made me laugh and made this film look cheap and nasty was the DVD cover. It was like a metaphor for this whole lazy film. The actor who plays the antagonist appears on the cover, without his long hair and dreads, no piercings in his nose, nothing! It just looks like they quickly grabbed the actor, couldn't be bothered to put him in make-up, took the photograph and kicked him back out the door.
All in all, avoid this f--ker like the plague! It's nothing more than TV Movie-esque weary, boring, rubbish. "No Escape" was the perfect title, as I just couldn't escape the tedium.
COCK-A COCK-A CAW!