ESCAPE PLAN (2013)

If, back in the late 1980's, it was announced that Stallone and Schwarzenegger were making an action movie together it would have been the biggest news in the universe to a young teenage boy like me who had grown up endlessly watching COMMANDO and RAMBO:FIRST BLOOD PART II.  But now, 25 plus years later, they have both pissed all over their legacies so much (by releasing weak clunker after weak clunker) that outside of a little nostalgic interest I had zero excitement going into this film.

Stallone is a security expert whose specialty is escaping prisons and then suggesting improvements to the facility, but when he gets himself stuck in a top secret government prison, he realizes that he's been double crossed.  He then teams up with fellow prisoner, Schwarzenegger, to bust out of...well, wherever he is.  That sounds very exciting and a good writer and director could make a film out of that story that would cause viewers heads to explode, but instead nearly everything about this film is unoriginal and tired.  Also the budget seemed to be surprisingly low...I have no idea what the actual budget was, but the film at least looked more like something suitable for a Lundgren/Van Damme pairing than a Stallone/Schwarzenegger one.

Great story idea that never goes anywhere, stale action scenes, lame looking prison, Sam Neill on autopilot, non-threatening evil warden (this would have been an ideal role for Lundgren or some other 80's bad guy), bland everything else.  Some action movie fans might like it, but I can't see myself ever wanting to watch it again.  Highly disappointing.

Part 2 - Escape Plan 2: Hades (2018)
Part 3 - Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019)