FORMAT: DVD
Sylvester Stallone returns in this second DTV sequel to the underrated Escape Plan. This time, he’s got to rescue the daughter of a Chinese CEO who has been kidnapped by the crazy son of his ex-business partner (Devon Sawa). You know how those crazy sons of your ex-business partner can be. That’s after all why we have that famous phrase. Who hasn’t yelled, “You crazy son of my ex-business partner!” at the car who cut them off in traffic? But I digress.
Look, I loved the first Escape Plan more than most. I didn’t particularly like the second one, but I think I enjoyed it more than the Average Joe. This one is slightly better than 2, but it certainly feels more generic. Director John Herzfeld (who also directed Sly in the awful Reach Me) does deliver a couple of decent fight scenes and deaths though. So, there’s that.
Like Escape Plan 2, The Extractors was a Chinese co-production. That means Sly can conveniently step out of the movie every once in a while so that some of the Chinese actors can do a little of the heavy lifting. It also tacks on a couple minutes to the opening credits sequence as there are at least eight logos for various production companies (half of which are from China) immediately after the Lionsgate logo appears.
Like 2, it’s sorely missing the presence of Arnold Schwarzenegger. In his place, we have Devon Sawa, Dave Bautista (who gets more to do than he did last time), 50 Cent (who gets less to do than he did last time), Jaime King, and Daniel Bernhardt (and Vincent D’Onofrio, if you count his flashback from the first movie). None of them really are on their A-Game here, but their presence at least makes it feel like it’s not (as much of) a cheap production.
Oh, and like 2, it’s pretty forgettable.
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