I was so prepared not to like "Escape Plan" thinking it would be another run of the mill Stallone action movie. I went in with very low expectations, not knowing anything of the plot. But surprisingly, this film turned out to be very engaging and fun to watch after all. I will not be putting a detailed synopsis for you to be able to enjoy this movie fully as well.

Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone) is a Houdini of jails, having the ability to escape even the highest of high security enclosures. He finds himself locked up in an unofficial facility whose problematic inmates are meant to "disappear". In the advanced, high tech and isolated prison, Breslin's escape skills are put to the ultimate test.

Sylvester Stallone still delivers his lines as garbled as ever, but he looks good for his age, and has not lost his charisma as an action star. He managed to be quite credible in playing such an incredibly-skilled individual. We are ready to suspend disbelief and accept that he can do the impossible. Hey, that is Stallone on that screen!

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a German inmate named Rottmeyer, who befriends Breslin. Arnie plays it light here, with his acting so typically awkward and actually funny, but we know and love him in this tongue-in-cheek style of his.

Jim Caviezel is intense as Hobbes, the warden of this special prison, as well as its proud designer. He will go to all extremes to prove that his prison is escape-proof. His career seemed to have taken a dip after "Passion of the Christ" and that is unbelievable after the limits he pushed with that memorably emotional performance. He is very good here despite being in a rather one-dimensional antagonist role.

It was very good to see Sam Neill on screen again, also after what seems to be a long absence. He plays the prison physician here faced with a moral dilemma.

The story telling by Swedish-born director Mikael Håfström is well-paced and actually quite exciting. The set design of the prison was very high- tech, and well thought of. That version of solitary confinement was harsh! The escape techniques seemed logically planned and thrillingly executed. The revelation scenes are very well-staged and that is only how far I'm going to describe them so you won't be spoiled with the many surprises this film has in store for you.

Recommended for those looking for a good, entertaining and unexpectedly smart action film. You may think you already know how it all ends, but the road it took to get to that ending is quite an enjoyable ride, despite those typically hokey gunfight scenes towards the end. I had a good time watching this. 7/10.

The long awaited collaboration of action stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger has finally arrived with Escape Plan. Neither are exactly in their salad days and so we're not seeing a meeting of Rambo and the Terminator. But I wish they had not picked a story that was so ridiculous.

Stallone plays a master escape artist who gets himself thrown into prisons and proceeds to escape from them. He and partner Vincent Donofrio have a security business which advises correction facilities how to beef up their security. However he gets a contract to break out of a really secure facility which no one seems to officially know about that's headed by Jim Caveziel that has a unique location.

During the course of his incarceration Sly meets up with Schwarzenegger who is playing an international banker. His tracking device has also been removed so Sly's backup team of Curtis Jackson and Amy Ryan have no lifeline. Sly and Arnie form an alliance of convenience.

I was having trouble during this entire film of understanding why such a prison exists. It houses not real lawbreakers as such, but people that powerful people just want out of the way. Wouldn't it be easier to kill them?

Still there's enough action to satisfy Rambo and Terminator fans and in that Escape Plan doesn't fail to deliver. Sly and Arnie are old, but they're good.

ESCAPE PLAN is another prison movie from Sylvester Stallone and the third such film he's appeared in, following on from ESCAPE TO VICTORY and LOCK UP. This one's notable for featuring the ROCKY star teaming up with Arnold Schwarzenegger for a buddy action movie for the first time in their careers. Sure, they were in THE EXPENDABLES trilogy together, but they were more ensemble pieces and the two actors didn't share too many scenes.

ESCAPE PLAN starts off well with a very strong first half. In a plot similar to FACE/OFF, Stallone goes undercover and is incarcerated in a secret prison where he loses his true identity and is pushed by the sadistic warden. He enlists Schwarzenegger's help in order to facilitate an escape. That's the whole story. The writing gets sloppy in the second half, but there's plenty of action to take your mind off the inconsistencies of the narrative, and there's something pleasingly old-fashioned and '80s feeling about the depiction of the events. Jim Caviezel makes a good villain, alongside stock henchman Vinnie Jones and Sam Neill playing a doctor.