Escape Room (2019) - Smokkee's Review

Most of my readers know I'm a sucker for a good mystery and stories whose plots starts off with lines like "6 strangers...", which means I most likely would have been a bit more anxious to see this movie than I was. Admittedly I went into Escape Room with low expectations, knowing next to nothing of the plot when I went to see it. I hadn't even watched the trailer, partly because I didn't know this movie existed. To top it off, "Escape Room" is the kind of cheesy title that has "direct to video" written all over it. I expected to at best be mildly entertained by it or, at worst, hate that I let another bad movie still 90 minutes from me. I love it when a movie surprises me in a good way. My only problem with this movie is I'm not sure I can recommend it.

I guess Zoey (Taylor Russell) never seen Hellraiser.

After an opening scene which depicts a man begging to be let out of a shrinking room on the verge of crushing the man to death until it's interrupted by the title screen, we're introduced to our six strangers. We meet ne'er do well  Ben also the guy who was getting crushed at the beginning (Logan Miller), while his at work at a Home Depot-ish type store, then a college student named Zoey (Taylor Russell) and finally a businessman named Jason (Jay Ellis) as they all in various ways receive a gift in the form of a puzzle box. These boxes would give me too many flashbacks to Hellraiser's Lemarchand Configuration cube for me to fool around with it but these people's curiosity gets the better of them. We watch them figure out the puzzle boxes until they each get rewarded with an invitation to win $1 million if they can manage to escape the Escape Room. Essentially, the Escape Room is an interactive entertainment experience akin to a Murder Mystery Party featuring a series of locked rooms where the participants must use clues to help them exit. Each winds up in a nondescript waiting room where they meet the other three participants Danny (Nik Dodani), Amanda (Deborah Ann Woll, Daredevil's Karen Page), and Mike (Tyler Labine, who had me kicking myself for not recognizing Dale of Dale And Tucker Vs Evil fame). After a few minutes of getting familiar with each other via a few antagonizing comments, they realize the game had already gotten started and soon after that, they realize the stakes are a lot higher than expected. 

And here's where I have to stop. Not much more I can tell you about the plot without spoiling it. Also, I was giving myself a headache trying to make sense of what happens. The fact that I've been thinking about it lets me know I was entertained but will anybody else be? 

  I liked this movie in the same way I love Smoking Aces, Way of the Gun, and the Saw series. In other words I was entertained throughout however there are so many plot-holes that become even more apparent once you know more about what's going on that if you tried to give this movie much thought, then like me you'd probably give yourself a headache too. If you liked any of those movies I just mentioned then you'll most likely like this movie too but if you're a stickler for coherent plots, you might want to skip this one. I say go for it.