Probably too late to post a comment but I remember being on the set back when I was six or so in Australia. I'm impressed by how much you were able to piece together, given that it's a somewhat obscure film. And the village set was indeed full sized. What you saw was what was there.
Stuart is one of the great English character actors of our time. I wish he'd been cast more. Ever since Lethal Weapon 3, I've been watching him and have been in awe of his talent.
Luckily, I have a DVD copy of this unsung gem. Worthy of praise, and I am not surprised to see someone of your exceptional taste extolling the virtues of this action packed treasure.
@@darthXreven annnnnnddddd someone can't math. 2020 is 1 year, 2021 is 1 year, video comes out in 2022 and that's during the year not counting that entire year, that's 2 years of waiting not 3.
@@DirtyFNsocks I have a longstanding feud with math.......math is my mortal enemy.... all my plans get foiled by math... I'll get you next time math....next time mwahahahaaaaa!!!!
Yeeeaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzz! This is an underrated, not so well known, GEM! Ray Liotta is so captivating on screen, and he was great in this. Thanks, and Happy Christmas mates!
I had no trouble buying my DVD copy... I had it on VHS before that... Finally, I viewed it three times at the cinema. It's available on eBay for less than $10.00.
I love Ray Liotta, Lance Henriksen and of course I am a sucker for a Martin Campbell movie so I am down to see this. Thanks Oliver yet an another good retrospective
@@RichV20 oh geez. Those two movies try so hard to be something. I think in another time, they would have been popular. They're purely a product of Hollywood. All fantasy, all escapism. Everything Hollywood stands for as far as creating a fantastical reality the audience has never seen before are what those movies are.
So happy you took the time to review NO ESCAPE. Well made sci-fi action film. Good visual storytelling, especially in the first act. Fun. Entertaining. :)
This movie came out in a quiet spring dominated by family movies and comedies. I remember the marketing for this being solid, but the lack of a big action star made it an easy pass (even though it came out the week of my birthday). Speed, True Lies and Stargate came along in the next few months and this movie was totally forgotten until it showed up endlessly on cable.
You mentioned Speed, True Lies, and Stargate I think we had Forest Gump, Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption that year also. What a great year for films.
1994 opened with some of the worst box office records in film history, with Ace Ventura and Four Weddings and a Funeral being the only hits that I know of at the year's opening. Then came the summer, all of the blockbusters have come out, so people got the notion that 1994 was one of the best years for movies, when I don't think it is. I think it's a decent year, just not a great one.
This movie has a special place in my heart. My sister got me a box of vhs tapes from Columbia House for my birthday when I was 15. Watched it many, many times. It has its flaws, but, I still love it. I heard there were supposed to be a couple other groups on the island that aren't shown. In all seriousness, it's a great premise, just could have been pulled of better.
This is one of the vert few retrospectives you have done on a movie I had never even heard of. I might need to find this one. Looks like a good sci-fi prison double-feature with Fortressa.
I remember watching it on NBC 2 years after it's theatrical release. My parents and I saw this and thought it was pretty good! It's one if those Sci-fi action cult classics that no one talks about.
One funny detail. The Film from 1994 predicts a military campaign in Libya in the year 2011 , which then actually took place in reality when Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011, lol.
I remember walking past this movie in video rental places my whole life. The back of the box REALLY didn't do the movie any favours. It placed all the emphasis on (the powerful weapon) which you can see on the front is a rocket launcher. Not exactly excalibur. The emphasis should have been on building up Liota as a ruthless tactician.
Totally missed this movie growing up but watched it for the first time last night and man this movie checked all the boxes for me. What a treat to watch this at 38YO and feel like a kid again experiencing my new favorite movie for the first time. Thanks to all the amazing talent that put this movie together.
I love this movie. It’s got the feel like you want to be there but don’t at the same time. I think we watched it on HBO back in the day on a Saturday night when the new movies would come out.
This is one of these "sunday afternoon" movies that were all the time on TV back in the 90s, I watched it like a million times back then. Saw it for the last time on the year 2000 I think, and then completely forgot about it until now.
I used to always get this movie confused with Surviving the Game. Unfortunate really, this is a far superior film. I love Martin Campbell and wish he had more work. It's a shame I think he shoulda directed more Bond films. He directed 2 of the best, and revitalized the stagnation the series gets. Great job as always Oliver, still one of the best talents on this platform.
I worked in theaters at the time. This came from a new start up called Savoy. They also released Serial Mom and Last of the Dogman. Their size and ability to get theaters to show it also played a part in its failure.
I was addicted to this movie when it first came out and still am, not only because it’s just a great movie, but also because I like the idea of throwing criminals on a island to fend for themselves.
Man..I REMEMBER this trailer..it was on a VHS of..TMNT or something ..and i used to watch this trailer and the trailer for "Outbreak"..ah days before YT or Streaming
I remember when we got Sky back in the 90's this was heavily advertised. I always got it mixed up with Fortress over the years, because that was on Sky Movies a lot too at the same time.
I worked on this film as an extra in a control room scene, i was a prison guard at a computer monitor. The wardrobe dept had a hard time keeping up with Michael Lerners expanding weight
This was shot around where I live. I think the reason for it's poor release was that it was delayed about a year and there was almost no marketing. I remember seeing maybe 2 ads for it on late night tv.
this is one of those movies that I grew up seeing on the shelf at the video rental store but didn't end up watching until many many years later. underrated, fun action flick! my only complaint is how I wish Lance Henriksen had played the bad guy. An over the top villainous Lance a la Hard Target or Stone Cold (another underrated gem!) is always such a pleasure to behold.
Thank you sooooooooooo much. I am a huge Sci fi fan. For some strange reason this movie struck a major chord with me. Seen about 50 times. I always gravitate towards this movie, and probably will watch again after this review.
Umbrella Entertainment (Australia) released a region free Blu-Ray on 2018, but I think it's sold out. Email them and tell them to re-run another batch!!! :)
Oliver- I've watched ALL of your retrospectives and personally have seen these films when I was younger: but I have NEVER heard of this one! Appreciate ya!
I remember seeing the trailer for this movie when it first came out. Didn't get a chance to see it at the movies, but rented it when it was released and loved it.
My Stepdad liked this movie when it came out, but I forgot about it until TBS showed it about a decade later. I watched it again a couple years ago. The movie was kind of prescient with its depiction of private prisons and a Western military intervention into Libya- even if it jumps into "Most Dangerous Game meets Mad Max" a little too quickly.
I LOVE this movie! The way Campbell shoots action, the way the camera moves, and the timing of the edits are so perfect! I think it was neither good enough or bad enough to stand out so it ended up being forgotten, but It's a very well made flick. Personally, I think it failed because we spend too much time with the good guys and their camp. I wanted more Stuart Wilson . I wish it was just Ray Liotta and Wilson, "The Most Dangerous Game" type of thing. Might have done better.
Perhaps it failed because it wasn’t properly advertised, I didn’t see it until it was released on VHS because I didn’t actually know it had been in the cinema, it came and went so rapidly.These days a film like this (which I owned and watched a lot ) would be dumped on Netflix.
@@jimd385 I actually got to see it in the theater. The 90s in Dallas, Texas were big on movies. We got everything. I feel pretty lucky. So many great movies like this in the 90s.
Kelsey Shannon .......yep, movies were better in my youth. Occasionally there’s a really good one (I watch Jack Reacher far too often) but the Disney takeover of modern blockbuster cinema has had a rather cookie-cutter effect on content, don’t get me wrong, Iron Man and Thor are awesome but I miss the big budget action movie made for grown ups like The Rock, True Lies and The Matrix, perhaps this explains the success of newer films like the ‘John Wick’ trilogy and the ‘Olympus has Fallen’ trilogy, they really do cater to the 90’s action fan....like me.
Im surprised it flopped even on VHS, here it was quite a hit on VHS and it is being shown on TV all the time, definitely a classic. I believe that Liotta can be the case, he is not a typical action lead and has some "bad guy" aura around him..
pretty sure I first saw this on ITV back in the day. as far as I remember saturday night they would show all your fave shlock action movies. it was great.
Also, Kevin Dillon will always be the VHS guy from Remote Control. If you don't know about this classic 1988 B-movie alien invasion SF satire, do check it out.
Another great review of a hidden gem. Your format is excellent and made me consider how even some of the flawed favorites of my childhood were redeemed by their scores, soundtracks, and audio effects. The opening credits where the shadowy figure of Liotta's character breaks formation to march up to his commander and terminate his command is burned into my memory.
oliver i had ZERO idea this movie existed. i feel like i just got mandella effected. anyway cheers best movie review youtuber, only one ive ever recommended to friends
I've never heard of this movie, and it looks pretty cool! I like every Martin Campbell I've ever seen, so I'll definitely try to seek this out. Thanks for another quality vid!
I thought I hadn't seen this movie but as soon as I saw the film clips in this video I realised I have. I dont think I've seen it all the way through but definitely remember it being on Sky movies in the 90s. Not one I remember seeing any advertisements for at all though in the day, so I see why it might have passed people by.
