Cinema | The Escapist
Rating: 
Running Time: 101 minutes
Director(s): Rupert Wyatt
Cast: Damian Lewis, Joseph Fiennes, Brian Cox
Showing: Sat 2nd Aug - Mon 4th Aug
Full: £7.50*
Concession: £6.00*
This prison thriller is a puzzle, says Rupert Wyatt, its first-time director
Frank (Brian Cox), a veteran lifer reconciled to prison until he learns that his daughter is critically ill and decides to attempt a daring escape
He recruits a crew of younger convicts able to enact his plan, which starts off in the prison laundry and ends up in the London Underground
For Frank, the escape is also a chance to redeem himself before it is too late. For the rest, it is a matter of taking up the difficult challenge he has imposed upon them. This is a world of its own: to stay could clearly become unbearable and to escape a consuming passion, however fraught with danger
Cox, as usual, acts in such a way as to make talking about a performance seem irrelevant. He is Frank through and through, tough and vulnerable at the same time
And the prison itself, a grim amalgam of the old Kilmainham Jail in Dublin and a disused factory also plays its part. It could be a setting from Midnight Express
The Escapist might often be difficult to decipher but you keep trying as it's acted with resource, directed with imagination and mounted with rare skill
Derek Malcolm - This is London
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