Escape Plan: The Extractors Blu-ray Review

THE MOVIE — 3.0/5

The first Escape Plan wasn’t some great action-thriller but it was entertaining especially seeing two of the greats from the 80s and 90s finally teaming up with Stallone and Schwarzenegger. Due to the lackluster box office as their star power, as it’s pretty much been the case for Hollywood, didn’t register (hence why the likes of Bruce Willis and John Travolta are in DTV hell with Stallone on their tales, saved only because of the Rocky franchise (with Creed) and Rambo still having a bit of life left.

It took five years for us to get Escape Plan 2: Hades, a movie that had Sylvester Stallone’s name at the top but only had maybe 20-minutes of screen time with the central focus being on, if memory serves as the film was forgettable, Xiaoming Huang, a Chinese actor. Not only was it disappointing that Stallone was relegated to a supporting player, if not a cameo appearance, but the movie just plain sucked, to put it crassly. Can’t say I was surprised considering Grindstone Entertainment was involved, and if you’re familiar, you know I’ve seen my fair share from that production company.

Now only a year later, as it was in production even before Hades was released, Escape Plan: The Extractors is at least a step up from the previous entry and did feature Stallone is a more prominent role and felt like his character was front and center. That being said, it might be a simple plot but still on the messy side.

The plot finds Ray Breslin (SYLVESTER STALLONE) tasked with infiltrating a covert black site after Daya, the daughter (MALESE JOW) of a Hong Kong tech mogul, with connections to Breslin’s own company, is kidnapped, along with Breslin’s girlfriend, Abigail (JAIME KING). Helping Breslin are Trent DeRosa (DAVE BAUTISTA), Jules (LYDIA HULL), Shen (MAX ZHANG), Daya’s former bodyguard-turned-lover, current bodyguard Bao (HARRY SHUM JR.). Master hacker and Breslin’s tech guy Hush (CURTIS JACKSON) briefly contributes in the endeavor before disappearing from the film and never heard from again…

As it turns out, the whole thing is revenge scheme by Lester Clark Jr. (DEVON SAWA), son of Breslin’s old partner from the first movie as portrayed by Vincent D’Onofrio who was locked inside a cargo container to meet a cruel and likely painful death.

The rest of the movie plays out as one would suspect. Devon Sawa, who is nice to see in anything these days, plays up the devious villainous role well enough while Sylvester Stallone does seem to have a more consistent screen time versus Hades where he sporadically popped in before appearing in the finale. Dave Bautista managed to cram this into his busy schedule of late though I’m guessing his scenes were shot alongside those of Escape Plan 2; he has a fun and exciting fight scene (opposite I believe his longtime stunt double acting as one of Sawa’s henchmen) and they do set up a possible fourth movie pairing again with Stallone.

The supporting cast were alright. I did like Max Zhang and though I don’t think he’s the next Jet Li or anything, he’s got mad fighting skills that hopefully can be exploited in a movie with a finely-tuned action script and better character development. Jaime King reprises her role from the second movie (Amy Ryan played the role in the 2013 original) but doesn’t get a whole lot to do other than be on the receiving end of Sawa’s menacing looks.

Escape Plan: The Extractors gets what I consider a (slight) upgrade in the directing arena with John Herzfeld, for what it’s worth, previously helming movies like 2 Days in the Valley and 15 Minutes. Here, the fight chorography did seem a bit cleaner and considering the budgetary constraints, weren’t altogether that bad.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.0/5

The release comes with a glossy, title-embossed slip cover and a redemption code for the Digital HD.

Audio Commentary primarily features Co-Writer/Director John Herzfeld & Actor Devon Sawa though Daniel Bernhardt comes in at ~56’ and Stallone ~69’. It’s not the best track ever or anything and there are a few dead spots, but you do get bits of information such as filming at the “Shawshank” prison and some of the logistics as there was a modern prison built behind it.

Making Escape Plan: The Extractors (10:03) behind-the-scenes featurette with on-set interviews with the cast and crew.

Previews – Escape Plan, Escape Plan 2: Hades, Backtrace, Future World, Bent

VIDEO – 3.5/5

AUDIO – 4.25/5

OVERALL – 3.0/5

Escape Plan: The Extractors, and this might be faint praise, is at least better than the previous installment if only that Sylvester Stallone seem like he was the star. As it is, there is some fun entertainment value to the third entry even if the plot is on the thinner side, though Devon Sawa as the villain seemed to make the most of it. I’d say it’s worth a rental.