![]() Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.Bessy is a film director, producer and screenwriter resides Los Angeles, California. But it doesn’t seem like it’s coming to an end any time soon, so that will happily remain a quandary for another day. We’re in a strange paradox as viewers: Do we even want to see her escape? That would deny the satisfaction of watching her work. Therein lies the pleasure of “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions,” where every participant is a Zoey type (they all won, after all). Zoey is a soulful and sorrowful final girl in the style of Sidney from “Scream.” She wants justice and vengeance on Minos, but she’s so smart she can’t help but solve whatever puzzle is in front of her. The new players, Indya Moore, Holland Roden, Thomas Cocquerel and Carlito Olivero, are fantastic additions.īut Zoey and Ben remain the heart of the blossoming franchise. ![]() “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions” is a pastiche of its predecessors, using this mosaic of tropes and formula familiarity as a shorthand to keep the film pared down to the basics: increasingly sadistic puzzles and a great cast of characters. What we want to see is the panicked victims puzzling together clues as the rooms rumble and shake around them, deadly traps erupting as the clock counts down. It’s the same motivations that underpin dystopian stories like “The Most Dangerous Game,” “Battle Royale” and even “The Hunger Games,” so we don’t need to spend too much time on who these villains are or what they want. Minos and its intentions are vague: It plans these lethal escape rooms for an audience of “customers” to watch, pitting groups of people against each other to see how they play out. This is the tournament of champions, and we get to jump right into the puzzles with clever, yet unwilling participants. ![]() They end up on an out-of-control subway car (shades of “The Taking of Pelham 123”) with what appears to be a group of strangers, though it’s quickly revealed that everyone has experience with Minos escape room torture. Now she’s determined to go after the dastardly Minos organization that runs the games that killed her friends, so the pals set off for New York to do some recon. Previously on “Escape Room,” the smart, sad Zoey (Russell), broke her way out of the game and rescued Ben (Logan Miller) in the process. There’s no other way to say it: This movie rips. Operating in the mode of the “Saw” and “Final Destination” franchises, there could be a long future for “Escape Room” movies, and the sequel, “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions,” even leaner and meaner than the first, proves the staying power of this budding series. “Escape Room” was just that: a series of high-stakes, life-or-death puzzles, but thanks to the cast and characters, plus a fantastic final girl in Taylor Russell, it worked. Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials.Īdam Robitel’s 2019 B-movie horror flick “Escape Room” had all the signs of a flash in the pan: early January release and a gimmicky premise based around a live entertainment trend. The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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