Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

Inescapable Blu-ray Movie Review

Taken in Damascus

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater July 10, 2013

With interest in Syria at an all-time high because of the ongoing uprising, the low-budget Inescapable—which is set in pre-revolt Damascus— will probably find more of an audience than it might've otherwise. The film is the latest from Toronto-based Ruba Nadda, a filmmaker of Syrian/Palestinian heritage whose previous two features, Cairo Time and Sabah, were both romantic dramas that dealt with the uneasy intersection between Western and Middle-Eastern cultures. Inescapable is thematically similar but takes a drastic shift in tone and pacing—especially in its second half—essentially becoming an indie riff on a Taken-style, I'm coming to get my daughter at any cost thriller. This gambit is not without its risks. Though Nadda clearly has a mind for well-written characters—her other films are simple, elegant, and definitely worth checking out—she seems to have trouble here working them into the framework of a high-stakes action movie. The half-hearted set- pieces, fist fights, and shootouts come at the expense of the story, which fails to engage on any real level besides the immediate less-than-thrilling thrills. Consequently, Inescapable doesn't really work as a thought-provoking drama or a turn-off-your-brain beat-em-up. It's not a bad film by any means, but you can easily imagine it being much, much better.

Sudanese-born English actor Alexander Siddig, whom you might recognize from Syriana or TV's 24, plays Adib Abdel Kareem, a Syrian who's been living in Toronto for the past twenty years, working as the IT operations manager for a bank. When we see him pick a locked drawer to which a coworker lost the key—"Misspent youth," he tells her as he slides it open—we get the quick sense that his background isn't just limited to computers. He has a Western wife, two daughters, and a rather pedestrian job, but there's clearly clearly more to Adib than meets the eye. His eldest daughter, Muna (Jay Anstay), is a photojournalist on a tour of the Mediterranean, and when she makes an unexpected detour into Syria to explore her ancestral homeland—without telling her dad, who's warned her how dangerous it would be for her to visit—she inadvertently pisses off the secret police and goes missing, setting up the film's very Taken-like premise.

Adib takes the first flight east to Jordan, finagles himself an illegal Syrian visa—he "knows some people"—and basically sneaks into the country on his Canadian passport, not wanting anyone connected with his past to know he's there. The one exception is his former fiancé, Fatima—Marisa Tomei in heavy eye makeup—who's surprised that he's alive, saddened that he's married, but still game to help him find his daughter. Adib and Fatima's history together is the dramatic weight that hangs over the film—along with the mystery of why Adib was forced to disappear and leave the country without telling her—but Nadda's slow doling out of the facts doesn't sustain much interest. Those hoping for some passionate rekindling of long-lost love will be doubly disappointed.

Instead, the film goes the route of the A-to-B-to-C thriller, by which I mean that the story has Adib following one clue to its natural conclusion, picking up the trail of another, and so on—and so on, and so on—until Inescapable winds its way to a bloody climax, some lengthy exposition, and a wrapping-it-all-up emotional denouement that's far too short. Adib enlists the help of a Canadian Embassy aide (Fringe's Joshua Jackson) who may or may not have been having an affair with Muna. He blackmails an old military acquaintance (Oded Fehr). He shakes down a retired journalist, gathers intel at a university known for harboring communist students, and even gets some dirt from the female clerk at a lingerie shop. And so on, and so on.

Each stop along the plot points all-too-obviously to the next, with the cumulative effect of Inescapable being entirely unsurprising. This sort of story structure might work for a film that has a lot of sub-surface stuff going on—emotional nuance or unexpected character turns, for instance—but Nadda's script is often frustratingly straightforward (in a very literal way). Even the film's big twists are less "oh my god!" and more "yeah, sure, I guess that makes sense."

While this is no ultra-complex geopolitical "hyperlink" film—like Syriana—Inescapable does effectively mine the chaotic governmental situation in Damascus for atmosphere, with a melange of supporting characters straight out of a John le Carré novel, including a Mossad double agent, a portly ex-KGB spy who stays in Syria for the warm weather, and a secret police goon who hounds Adib at every turn. Though some of these smaller parts can be a bit caricatured, the acting for the main roles is definitely on point. Alexander Siddig probably couldn't hold his own against the 6'4" Liam Neeson in a brawl, but he's a real presence—handsome and empathetic and believable—and he solidly deserves more leading man screen time. Marisa Tomei does a decent Arabic accent, and Joshua Jackson makes the most out of a role that mostly requires him to either a.) withhold what he really knows or b.) show up in the nick of time. They each do a lot of running around in Johannesburg standing in for Damascus—the film was shot in South Africa in just over three weeks—and the action scenes, well, aren't really worth a stamp in your cinematic passport. At its best, the film does get a lot right—the mood of an unstable country, the way accusations can trump the truth—but at its worst, Inescapable is dull, a routine action thriller that neither shocks nor awes.

Inescapable Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Inescapable was shot digitally with Arri Alexa cameras, but the 1080p/AVC-encoded image here seems quite a bit softer and—for the lack of a better word—mushier than that of other films I've seen that were shot with the same gear. The difference can be attributed to the lenses used, perhaps, or some step in the post-production process—it could even be an intentional part of cinematographer Luc Montpellier's aesthetic for the film—but it's definitely noticeable up close and in the screenshots here, with fuzzy textures and indistinct edges on what would probably be fine high definition detail in a another movie. That's not to say the film lacks clarity; from a normal viewing distance, on an averaged sized screen, it certainly doesn't look bad at all. It's just not tack sharp. Source noise also plays a part—it's quite intense in some darker scenes—and occasionally the picture has a slightly compressed look. There's no obvious DNR or edge enhancement, though, and no other distractions. Color is nicely graded and—apart from some blown- out highlights when Adib wears his crisp white button-down shirt out in the blazing sun—contrast is decently balanced.

Inescapable Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Inescapable defaults to a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track that satisfying brings the streets of Damascus—well, Johannesburg standing in for Damascus—to life. While not as action heavy as the film it's most often compared to, Taken, Inescapable's sound design seems bigger than its paltry budget would suggest, effectively utilizing the full multi-channel spectrum. Ambience swells often in the surround speakers —marketplace noise, traffic, checkpoint clamor, pouring rain, wind and insects—and there are few great effect moments, like a car crash that rends metal and sends shards of glass and debris spraying through the soundfield. Rounding it all out is a tense and diverse score from composers Geo Höhn and Jim Petrak, which features the normal orchestral elements along with electronic sounds and Middle Eastern instrumentation. Everything sounds clear, full, and present, with occasional low-end assistance from the subwoofer when necessary. Dialogue remains clean and balanced throughout, with no muffling, drop-outs, or other issues. The disc also includes a Linear PCM 2.0 mixdown, along with English SDH and Spanish subtitles.

Inescapable Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary: Writer/director Ruba Nadda and cinematographer Luc Montpellier talk about shooting the film—quickly, on a low budget—in Johannesburg, the look of the movie, the characters and casting, and all the other usual reflective topics.
• Behind the Scenes (HD, 15:50): A quick making-of piece with some on-location footage, clips from the film, and interviews with the director and actors.
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 3:11)
• Q&A at Indigo (HD, 30:42): Director Ruba Nadda, Alexander Siddig, and Saad Siddiqi field questions from a moderator and the audience. Heads up, the camerawork is a bit wonky for the first few minutes.
• Trailer (HD, 1:35)

Inescapable Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The comparison really is unavoidable; Inescapable is the Middle Eastern Taken—I know, that would be Taken 2, but bear with me—only, director Ruba Nadda just doesn't have the action movie chops to pull it off. The film is a routine thriller that just doesn't engage emotionally or viscerally, with a by-the-numbers plot that grows increasingly dependent on wordy exposition. Still, I think Nadda has it in her to make a truly great film about Syria; maybe when the dust clears she'll be able to process the current uprising into something thought-provoking and raw, exposing Western audiences to all sides of a conflict that's not nearly as black and white as the media sometimes makes it out to be. As for Inescapable, I imagine it'll eventually show up on Netflix, so I'd probably hold off on a purchase and wait to see it then.