The Escapist (2008)
Directed by Rupert Wyatt
Frank Perry is an institutionalized convict twelve years into a life sentence without parole. When his estranged daughter falls ill, he is determined to make peace with her before it's too late. He develops an ingenious escape plan, and recruits a dysfunctional band of escapists - misfits with a mutual dislike for one other but united by their desire to escape their hell hole of an existence.
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4 films that influenced The Escapist
What critics say influenced The Escapist
Brazil (1985) is a dystopian SF, Jacob's Ladder (1990) is an angsty Vietnam drama, Donnie Darko (2001) is an apocalyptic teen movie, Stay (2005) is a nervy psychological mystery, but despite their generic differences, all of these films (as well as the last three features made by David Lynch) ultimately owe their unconventional chronologies, double-dealing plots and twist endings to the original incidents at Owl Creek Bridge â and now Rupert Wyatt has transferred Bierce's escapist themes to the genre to which they are arguably best suited: the prison-break movie.
What makes this different from other prison, and by extension, prison break films like The Great Escape or Escape From Alcatraz, is first time helmer Rupert Wyatt's forceful choice to chop up timelines.
Had the screenplay by co-writers Rupert Wyatt and Damian Lewis followed a linear plot, it would have been rather standard, bland and uninspired, especially given that there are so many classic, prison escape movies that tread the same water, such as Escape from Alcatraz, The Shawshank Redemption, Cool Hand Luke, The Grand Illusion and Papillon, among others.
Had the screenplay by co-writers Rupert Wyatt and Damian Lewis followed a linear plot, it would have been rather standard, bland and uninspired, especially given that there are so many classic, prison escape movies that tread the same water, such as Escape from Alcatraz, The Shawshank Redemption, Cool Hand Luke, The Grand Illusion and Papillon, among others.
No one will mistake The Escapist for Robert Bresson’s contemplative A Man Escaped nor Frank Darabont’s sentimental favorite The Shawshank Redemption.
Brazil (1985) is a dystopian SF, Jacob's Ladder (1990) is an angsty Vietnam drama, Donnie Darko (2001) is an apocalyptic teen movie, Stay (2005) is a nervy psychological mystery, but despite their generic differences, all of these films (as well as the last three features made by David Lynch) ultimately owe their unconventional chronologies, double-dealing plots and twist endings to the original incidents at Owl Creek Bridge â and now Rupert Wyatt has transferred Bierce's escapist themes to the genre to which they are arguably best suited: the prison-break movie.