Hey, Remember When Owen Wilson And Pierce Brosnan Teamed Up For An Action Thriller?

“No Escape” is regularly bashed for being racist and culturally insensitive, and it’s easy to see why. Even before the uprising kicks off, Owen Wilson treats the hotel staff with contempt and walks the streets giving the locals the side-eye. It’s a classic case of the “ugly American” trope, which sits uneasily with the film’s portrayal of its nameless location and its people. There isn’t a single Asian character with a role of any note, which is problematic. By not really treating Asians as humans in the first place, the insurgents might as well be a horde of zombies. To make matters worse, coyly refusing to name the destination gives the impression that the filmmakers don’t really care about the culture or politics of the region, reducing the all-too-real horrors of a bloody uprising to a high-concept basis for the action.

As dubious high concepts go, “No Escape” is a brutally efficient thriller once it gets going. One scene in particular, involving a perilous leap across rooftops with children in tow, made me so unbearably tense that I almost skipped forward. With kids of my own, there were occasions when I genuinely feared for the family’s lives.

The action is relentless and grim, with Owen Wilson getting beaten up a lot and plenty of atrocities in the background. It’s an ugly experience that might prove too depressing if it wasn’t for the sadly fleeting appearances of Pierce Brosnan, who has fun doing his lascivious and disreputable thing from “The Matador.”

Is it worth your time? That very much depends on your sensibilities. The crude portrayal of its supposedly anonymous location leaves a sour taste and will be enough to turn many viewers off. For those able to put that to one side, masochists will probably delight in a very intense and claustrophobic survival thriller.

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