A 2021 psychological thriller directed by Adam Robitel, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is the sequel to 2019’s Escape Room. Intent on bringing to justice the mysterious Minos Corporation, Zoey (Taylor Russell) and Ben (Logan Miller) return from the first film, but soon find themselves locked in another sick escape room-style torture trap, along with other previous “winners”: the hearing impaired Theo (Carlito Olivero); a priest, Nathan (Thomas Cocquerer); social media influencer, Brianna (Indya Moore); and Rachel (Holland Roden), a winner with a rare medical condition. James Frain and Isabelle Fuhrmann also star, as the escape room puzzlemaker Henry, and his captive daughter Claire, respectively.
[Please note: on Xbox Films & TVs only the Extended Edition is available to rent or buy, which is what I did. As it turns out, according to Wikipedia, the Extended Edition is quite different to the theatrical release, so I have to specify this is the Extended Edition.]
– maybe I’m just a sadist, but I like watching dumb people die in horrific/hilarious ways. That said, there was not even any of those sort of deaths here. What’s even the point of heinous traps when they aren’t triggered to their most bloody expectations?
– I’m a sucker for these sort of psychological plots, but I can’t stand how unrealistically these people act. If you know a room is a trap, and it is a certainty that there will be tricks and wordplay and the like, why would you run clear across a tiled floor? And why would you be so antagonistic towards these people that are in the same situation as you? It takes me out of it (though considering the state of the world the last year, maybe I should know better)
– I struggled to recall any of the characters’ names, leaving aside the two from the first film. None of them were important, and we weren’t even given flashes of the newcomers’ escape room wins. These were poor characterisations if I have ever seen them
– the entire Extended Edition additions seem hamfisted and poorly worked into the story, primarily as a cheap sequel hook
> I was incredibly confused as to why Deborah Ann Woll received such high billing in the credits, and it’s because her character was all but cut from the Extended Edition. A literal two-second flashback to her character from the first film was all I saw.
> between the two films titled Escape Room (the 2017 monstrosity and this film’s 2019 first outing) and 2020’s No Escape, I think I’m well and truly burned out of escape room themed movies… especially because they all suck.
Should you see this film: Have I recommended any of the above mentioned escape room inspired films? Who knows? Who cares? Why are we even here? What is the point of it all? This movie sucked.
MoshFish Reviews 