No Escape (1994) MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 Content: -2 1/2

In the year 2022, prisons have become big business. A military prisoner, Captain Robbins (Ray Liotta), convicted of killing his superior officer, is assigned to a maximum security prison. The warden has difficult prisoners like Robbins taken to a secret island. The island is inhabited by two groups of prisoners, the Outsiders and the Insiders. The Outsiders are animal-like mobs led by the ruthless Merrick (Stuart Wilson). The Insiders have an almost civilized society with farms and a walled village. They are led by a man called Father (Lance Hendrickson). Robbins eludes the Outsiders and is taken in by the Insiders. Over the years, the Insiders have gathered parts for an escape boat including an engine, but lack a vital part. Robbins offers to get it from the Outsiders in exchange for a place on the boat. Even though he is successful, dramatic events force the escape plans to be re-evaluated. In Dallas for the USA Film Festival, this film is entertainment for the violent action fan.

Action in Hollywood seems to translate as explosions, chases and graphic/gruesome violence. This film has it all. In the opening scene, a man breaks out of a military parade to shoot a commanding officer. When a prisoner breaks the rules, the warden gives "lashes" with an electric prod, and Robbins earns Merrick's favor when he stabs a challenger. With no guns allowed for prisoners, the killings are graphic stabbings, impalings, flaming arrows in various body parts, breaking necks, beheadings, and explosive rockets from prison helicopters. In a refreshing change of pace, NO ESCAPE has no sex, and men dancing together at a party in an all-male prison camp doesn't carry any homosexual overtones. Even the profanity and obscene language expected from a bunch of hard-core prisoners is held to a minimum. However, the film more than makes up for these omissions with its excessive violence. Despite the contrasting lifestyles of the civilized Insiders and the animal-like Outsiders, NO ESCAPE offers little reason to admire either.

Preview Reviewer: Paul R. Bicking
Distributor: Savoy Pictures Entertainment, 152 W. 57th St., 38th Floor, NY, NY 10019