Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Breakneck
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Graphic
- tense
- frantic
- oppressive
- action movie night
- intense weekend viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly found the film suspenseful and entertaining as a taut B-movie thriller, but faulted its one-dimensional characters, direction, and retrograde or xenophobic portrayal of Southeast Asia.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Jack and Annie Dwyer must repeatedly improvise escape routes while protecting Lucy and Beeze during the coup.
The American Dwyer family experiences the unnamed Southeast Asian country through sudden displacement, language barriers, and violent political unrest.
Jack and Annie’s decisions are driven by the need to keep their two daughters alive while fleeing rebels.
The family’s movement through hotel and rooftop spaces, including the prominently noted terrace sequence, intensifies the escape format.
Films like No Escape, and why
The Impossible
shares a survival thriller structure centered on a western family trapped amid catastrophic violence in Southeast Asia
The Killing Fields
shares political upheaval, foreign intervention, and a morally fraught survival perspective in Southeast Asia
The Fugitive
shares relentless pursuit, family protection, and escalating escape suspense under hostile conditions
Argo
shares a family-centered escape narrative driven by terrorism, urban danger, and sustained physical peril
Movie Details
- Director
- John Erick Dowdle
- Release Date
- 2015-08-26
- Runtime
- 103 min
- Rating
- 7.0 / 10 (2807)
Cast
- Owen Wilson
- Lake Bell
- Sterling Jerins
- Claire Geare
- Pierce Brosnan
- Thanawut Ketsaro
- Chatchawan Kamonsakpitak
- Sahajak Boonthanakit
- Tanapol Chuksrida
- Nophand Boonyai
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Lionsgate+ Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is No Escape about?
- A desperate American family races through a violent Southeast Asian coup, turning an expatriate relocation into a relentless fight for survival.
- What is No Escape like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of No Escape as breakneck, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is No Escape violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in No Escape as graphic.
- What did critics think of No Escape?
- Critics broadly found the film suspenseful and entertaining as a taut B-movie thriller, but faulted its one-dimensional characters, direction, and retrograde or xenophobic portrayal of Southeast Asia.
- Which films are like No Escape?
- Films with a similar feel include The Impossible, The Killing Fields, The Fugitive, and Argo.
- How long is No Escape?
- No Escape runs 103 minutes.
- Where can I watch No Escape?
- In United States, No Escape streams on Lionsgate+ Amazon Channel.
