Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Escape Room Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 29, 2019

Shades of the 1997 cult favorite Cube permeate through Escape Room, Director Adam Robitel's (Insidious: The Last Key) Mystery/Thriller that drops six seemingly disparate, but revealed to be interconnected, individuals into a battle for survival within an increasingly complex number of rooms that require them to work together to solve various brain teasers in quick succession under life and death circumstances. The film is entertaining as it is, hardly ascending to the complex psychological depth and structural intrigue as Cube but offering up solid entertainment both as the puzzles grow increasingly complex and deadly and as various character details are revealed: the pasts that have brought them together and the qualities they bring to the "game" that might just see them come out of it alive.

Six individuals -- Zoe (Taylor Russell), a shy college brainiac; Ben (Logan Miller), a young alcoholic trying to move up in the world; Jason (Jay Ellis), a fit and wealthy day trader; Amanda (Deborah Ann Woll), a wounded combat veteran; Mike (Tyler Labine), a trucker; and Danny (Nik Dodani), an escape room junkie -- all converge on an escape room after receiving a mysterious invitation that promises them $10,000 should they be able to escape the room. Danny, a veteran of such affairs, believes this to be another "safe" experience, that should the group fail the game master will enter the room and point out its secrets. But the six quickly come to realize that the game is anything but safe or fair. The first room nearly cooks them alive, and the challenges only grow more deadly and intense as the game progresses, the number of players dwindles, and the truth about why they are there and the characteristics they share in common come to light.

The film puts together an adequately entertaining narrative and populates it with forgettable characters who are performed well enough but never quite become fully realized individuals. They are defined by a singular moment in their lives that the game makers have identified as the characteristic they wish to capitalize on, each bringing a life-changing experience that makes them perfect candidates to play the game as these game masters have envisioned and designed it. The film feels a bit similar to the Saw series in that regard, without the disturbingly graphic gore but certainly in terms of why the individuals have been selected to participate in what quickly becomes an unholy game of survival. Beyond that, there's not much to the characters or the story, but one could argue that that is the point, that their lives have come to be defined by traumatic pasts and a singular moment in particular. It might be those experiences that help them puzzle their way out of death traps that range form boiling heat to frigid cold, from poison gas to falling floors. Or, they could be the characteristics that push them to madness while in the midst of it. The question is how they stand up to pressure, one another, and the ever-changing landscapes designed to do them in.

The film ultimately aims low, content to pit the characters against the puzzles with little recourse but to push forward and hope that the next room isn't as challenging, or deadly, as the last. Of course there wouldn't be a movie if each room grew progressively easier, if each one was like their real-life counterparts posing no more of a threat than forcing the players to put on a tight-fitting thinking cap (apparently "escape rooms" are real things that people participate in for fun, obviously without real perils and threat of bodily harm). One of the characters is even a veteran of escape room gameplay whose sole function in the movie is to essentially clue the audience in on how the rooms should behave and that they're not normally designed to kill but rather to entertain aspiring puzzles solvers in an unknown environment. The film designs each room crudely (only the upside down room really feels in any way unique) but they are carefully tailored to each person's past, which does give the film a more prominent feel for how the characters fit in and why they were chosen. The various theatrics -- the problem solving, the battles against various elements, who dies and how and when -- all play up with enough entertainment value for the film to maintain steady momentum throughout. Its biggest disappointment is its end, which is vague at best and set more to lay the groundwork for a sequel than to identify any truths about what the audience has just seen.

Escape Room Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Escape Room's 1080p transfer offers no reason to complain. The digitally shot film translates very well to Blu-ray, covering all the bases in terms of its textural output and color reproduction. Fine details are perfectly revealing to the format's standards. Complex facial and clothing textures are excellent but the image shines in revealing all of the intricacies in the various locations seen throughout the film, from the fairly modern and clean waiting room that turns out to be the first room from which the group must escape to the upside down pool hall room filled with nifty visual trinkets. Some of the rooms are more bland than others -- the "snowy exterior" for example -- but overall clarity and stability are excellent. Colors are neutral but do push to extremes as the situation demands. Red-hot lighting comes to define that first room where heating coils give off a powerful glow while the outside room takes on gray and bleak tones that even a bright red jacket can't quite break up. Skin tones appear accurate and black levels deep and tight. Source noise is minimal and no major encode issues of note are obvious. This is another first-class Blu-ray release from Sony.

Escape Room Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Escape Room's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack delivers a very good listen. The presentation is regularly active, making full use of the surrounds to pull the listener into the various rooms with immediacy and a feel for the danger at hand. The film opens with a flash-forward scene in which a character finds himself in a room that is closing in on him, threatening to squash him should he not be able to solve the puzzle in time. Crunching and cracking wood, falling debris, and the dreadful sound of the gears pushing the walls in make for a symphony of environmental terror. Such precision, depth, and volume are maintained throughout, with each room presenting with its own unique sonic signatures that are never lacking in clarity, immersion, or depth; the listener will always feel drawn into the seemingly inescapable dangers. Musical delivery is clear and wide along the front with some surround information folded in. Dialogue is clear and detailed with a natural front-center position, whether in casual conversation or frantic screams during the most dangerous and deadly encounters with any given room's traps.

Escape Room Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Escape Room's Blu-ray contains a few featurettes and a collection of deleted scenes. A DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

• Game, Sets, Match (1080P, 4:55): A quick exploration of the major set pieces that appear in the film and what purposes they serve in the story.
• The Lone Survivors (1080p, 4:19): Another brief piece that quickly explores the cast and the qualities each actor brought to the film.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 19:02 total runtime): Included are Alternate Opening, Ben Liquor Store, Jason Motorcycle, Extended Mirror Flashback, Jason Office, Technician and Zoey, Extended Gaslight, and Alternate Ending.
• Will You Ever (1080p): Cast and crew talk up experiences in real escape rooms. Included are Will You Ever Die Part 1 (1:03) and Will You Ever Die Part 2 (1:02).
• Previews (1080p): Additional Sony titles.

Escape Room Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Escape Room is Saw without the gore and Cube without the depth. It's a perfectly serviceable and fairly entertaining film that does enough but never goes above and beyond. It's fairly well acted and the puzzle rooms range from bland to interesting and the film does enough to gain and hold interest for the duration, really only letting the viewer down at the end. Sony's Blu-ray is solid all-around, featuring excellent 1080p video and 5.1 lossless audio. A few extras are included. Recommended.