Six people unwittingly find themselves locked in another series of escape rooms, slowly uncovering what they have in common to survive -- and discovering they've all played the game before.
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is the second film in the Escape Room series, where we pick up right where the first film left off. The film essentially revolves around a series of deadly escape rooms, where participants are kidnapped/unknowing volunteers are forced to solve puzzles or die. The film has a very unique feeling, matching that of the original Escape Room film, from 2019, however, this film builds upon the themes, ideas and execution from the first film, and aims to further delve into the stories of the characters and Minos (the organisation behind the sadistic escape rooms) whilst building a name for itself. These films are also a guilty pleasure of mine, I loved the first film and was excited to check this one out once I heard it was being released. That being said, film sequels can be very 'hit or miss', let's dive into whether this film is a worthy sequel or an inescapable nightmare. Here are my thoughts.
I'll start off with what I liked about the plot and themes explored within the film. As mentioned, I enjoyed the original film due to its fast-paced nature and the ability to maintain a feeling of pressure, anxiety and excitement throughout the film, through the use of its main themes - escape rooms. This film is no different, I really like how the story progresses, transporting the characters throughout a variety of different settings and challenges. This is a useful element in keeping a 'fast flowing' feeling to the film, each of the escape rooms has a somewhat time restrictive nature, where characters are forced to make quick decisions, and act without thinking - this fast-paced feeling to the film is excellent, and is demonstrated well throughout, but notably during the acid rain scene. This is because there isn't a specific, 'one countdown', but numerous countdowns for tasks to be completed before being covered in acid - the film doesn't just put the characters in a situation and give them 5 minutes to solve a puzzle or die, but it plays well upon the emotions of the characters, and the human nature of thinking quickly, and solving puzzles whilst under pressure.
The actual storyline of the film was great too and was thoroughly enjoyable, I feel that sometimes these films can be challenging to maintain the feelings from the first film because of the length between them, however, I liked how this film spent a good few minutes covering the previous events of the first film and the events since, as this really helped to bring us back up to speed and immersed in the events of the film and the characters. This great start carried on throughout the film, setting a great standard for storytelling, despite the complex nature of the story of attempting to beat the escape room whilst simultaneously trying to topple Minos, the film manages to tell its story clearly, albeit a fairly simplified beginning, the film gradually gets more immersive and complex as it progresses which is enjoyable because it builds up the pace slowly at a pace that allows smaller details to be identified, but not too slow that the film feels long-winded and boring.
The pacing of this movie is electric. It's short at only 88 minutes, but even then it's over before you know it. Once the action starts it never relents. These movies are almost like a hybrid of the horror and action genres and I think that is one of the reasons they work so well. People who like horror can enjoy the action elements just fine, and people who don't like horror know that the movie isn't setting out to scare you or gross you out at all. There's a really good balance found here.
The film also aims to excite, but also at the same time to make us feel anxious and somewhat powerless over what is happening - the film achieves this well too through excellent storytelling, it gives us a really powerful feeling of hopelessness, and anxiety when questioning the motives behind everything, beginning with the initial counsellor discussion, several hints such as the 'Free Will' book, the forceful nature of facing the fear of flying and riddle type questions relating to the game. Of course, we find out that this is expertly fit into the story, but this sets a precedent for the film and storytelling. It is fantastic, a large number of small, yet invaluable details can be found throughout, including the example below, detailing the effort that the film goes into to entertain and create a memorable experience.
Whilst disbelief is definitely a prominent feeling many audiences may have whilst watching this film, I think that the exciting, fast-paced nature of the film combined with a series of new characters, scenarios and themes do help to keep the storyline of the film not only incredibly exciting and engaging but also simple to track and keep up with - a combination that is at the foundation of many great films. Speaking of characters though, these were impressive.
Whilst some of the new characters could have been fleshed out a little more, I really liked how the film maintained and supported the emotional connection we (as an audience) have to the characters, it's subtle but small details such as Theo missing his Wife's birthday help to give us empathy for characters, in such a short time. This in turn helped to make the emotions of the characters feel much more genuine, making them feel much easier to feel compassion and empathy for throughout the film.
Each of the characters also has a unique feeling, whether this is identified during discussions, actions or thinking, this gives us a subconscious connection to each of them - enhancing their realism and the feeling of the film. In terms of acting, it was decent across the board, I wouldn't say there were any standout performances from any of the characters - but on the whole, the acting here is good, characters feel energised, unique and are multi-dimensional enough to give them a genuine feeling, resulting in much easier emotional connections.
The film wasn't perfect though, and as touched upon - despite the successes of its predecessor, the main issue I had with this film is that it doesn't try to progress upon the narrative provided by the first film enough, it merely feels like an extension of the first movie, instead of a sequel. Whilst the variety of new experiences and locations in the film are exciting and enjoyable, the feeling that the film doesn't explicitly try to progress the overall narrative is slightly disappointing, however, it is worth noting that the events and structure of the film were good, I just expected a little more to progress the series.
Additionally, for those who haven't seen the first film and are thinking of viewing this, I would strongly recommend checking out the first film before seeing this one - whilst the first few minutes consisting of flashbacks are useful to help immerse us in the story, the entire film feels difficult to grasp and understand for audiences that don't know the entire story. Additionally, I feel that if you struggle with the suspension of disbelief in films then you are going to struggle with this one a lot. There are some elements to this movie that are so far-fetched they don't even try to explain them. You just have to accept them for what they are and sit back and enjoy the ride (if you can).
This film definitely doesn't revolve around realism, and I feel that it somewhat embraces this - but some plot holes did impact the experience for me, and feel as though they were overlooked during the writing of the film. For example, when the characters are in the bank escape room, they can walk behind the counters without repercussions, this leads to the question - why can't they use this to bypass the entire puzzle and walk free? Additionally, during the acid rain, the characters poured acid directly onto the lock, however, this lock would have surely been in contact with the acid rain, rendering this activity pointless. Once again though, I think this is quite subjective, where some people may overlook these due to the nature of the film, however for me, they did stick out like a sore thumb and slightly ruined the immersive, suspenseful nature of the film.
Overall though, I would give this film an 8. I really enjoyed it, and from the perspective of someone that has watched the initial film, I really liked how this film continued the events and storyline from the first film, providing a good feeling of progression. Additionally, whilst the new themes provided are exciting, the best part is definitely (and obviously) the new scenes and escape rooms we encounter - they are exciting, meaningful and due to the time restrictions, help to keep the film feeling exciting from start to end. As mentioned though, I would definitely recommend checking out the first film if you haven't already before watching this, as I feel this will give you the best possible viewing experience.
Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did watching the film and writing this review, I hope you have a lovely day! If you would like to check out my Official Facebook page where you can see sneak previous and more film insights then please consider checking out the link below!
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