A soldier is trying to escape from North Korea to South Korea, and right behind him, a gay soldier wearing lipstick is chasing him with his evil men—who are not wearing lipstick, so that means they are real men.
Escape is a brain-dead thriller where the characters lack depth. The story is nonexistent, except that the protagonist is pretty sick in the head for wanting to escape from North Korea to South Korea. Who the hell wants to escape from North Korea to South Korea? So, the man is insane!
As a thriller, Escape is entertaining, but it’s too predictable. As a drama thriller, Escape is a mess because it tries to be emotional with some of the characters, and it should never have gone down that path.
The protagonist has no personality. His friend, who is trying to escape with him, wants to go to South Korea to meet his mother, but then he goes full retard in a scene that doesn’t make sense. In the end, he’s just a stupid idiot.
And then we have the gay lipstick man, who knew the protagonist’s father and is sort of kind to him at the start of the movie—before the protagonist tries to escape from the country we all want to live in. It turns out this gay lipstick man loves to play the piano and was in love with another gay man wearing lipstick, who, again, has no personality. And the worst part of the movie? It’s so lazy when it shows us a scene from the past where the gay lipstick man plays the piano while the other gay man with lipstick is in the audience. That’s just lazy storytelling.
The protagonist also meets a large group of characters who are hiding and trying to survive. After that meeting, nothing comes out of it, and again, it’s just lazy storytelling. They have a mission, but that’s quickly forgotten. This is the kind of movie that should have just focused on the running and the escape rather than introducing too many characters because they are poorly written—to put it nicely.
The movie is at its best when the protagonist is trying to escape, and there’s always something stopping him from reaching his goal, forcing him to come up with solutions before he gets caught by the good guys from North Korea. And that part is entertaining—until he meets his former friend, who is a 100% idiot. He gets a second chance, and the idiot doesn’t take advantage of it because, well, he’s an idiot. So you hope the idiot will die! That piece of ungrateful fish!
The cinematography is, of course, good, since South Koreans are experts in that field. The score is also interesting because it has an upbeat energy, especially in the first hour. Come to think of it, Escape reminds me of an animated movie because of the score, the way it’s shot, and its simple story.
Would I recommend watching Escape? Not really. It’s a movie that could have worked if it had focused on the right things instead of trying to cram in too much drama. And what the hell was the point of the gay characters in the movie? Why the hell did they create a badass North Korean soldier with red lipstick who just had to be gay? Did the West invest in this movie? Because something smells rotten about these characters in Escape.