Film Review: ESCAPE ROOM: TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS (2021): PG-13 Rated Thrills Galore in an Otherwise Standard Horror Film

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions Review

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Adam Robitel, and starring Taylor Russell, Logan Miller, Deborah Ann Woll, Thomas Cocquerel, Holland Roden, Indya Moore, Carlito Olivero, Jamie-Lee Money, Lucy Newman-Williams, Jay Ellis, Tyler Labine, Nik Dodani, Jaymes Butler and Yorick van Wageningen.

“If you didn’t see it, it didn’t happen.” That’s what Zoey Davis (Taylor Russell) tells her fellow players trying to escape a twisted series of games in the new PG-13 rated horror film sequel, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions. Being that the movie is rated PG-13, we don’t see too much of the horrific stuff that goes on after a character disappears from the picture which pretty much means the third film in the series (if there is one) could pretty much do whatever it wants to.

This new film doesn’t play much by the rules as many characters appear after they have thought to be long gone so it keeps the viewer guessing throughout. That’s a good thing because if everything that happened in the movie was taken at face value without the twists and turns, it would have been a lot less fun to watch.

The film revolves around the traumatized Zoey who is seeing a therapist (Lucy-Newman Williams) since she evaded death after escaping the events portrayed in the first picture, Escape Room. Ben (Logan Miller) is another survivor from the first movie who teams up with Zoey to drive to New York City as the plot begins. Zoey won’t take a plane and the question is posed as to what it would take to get Zoey on a plane.

When Zoey and Ben get to New York City, Zoey’s necklace is stolen by a petty thief who escapes in to the subway system. While pursuing him, our pair of survivors make their way on to a train. It turns out other people in the subway car they are in are part of what is going on as well. It’s a trap as the train car is actually a Minos escape room leading our characters to use their wits to race against the clock in order to save themselves. There are puzzles given to our characters which test their minds as they try to fight for survival.

Holland Roden serves as Rachel who teams up with Zoey, Ben, Nathan (Thomas Cocquerel), and Brianna (Indya Moore) as the escape rooms get more challenging throughout. Carlito Olivero, as Theo, is the sixth person but he doesn’t last past the first trap.

Traps/escape rooms are found in interesting places which include a bank, and outside a bodega. In the film’s most exciting scenes, some of our heroines are trying to escape an acid rain storm and must run to a ringing pay phone and answer it accordingly. One of the ladies uses an umbrella to protect herself from the acid while a taxi cab’s sign is melting before her eyes. There is a lot of thought put into these scenes and I know most people wouldn’t be able to solve these puzzles even if given more time than our mastermind gives the heroes in the film. This sheds some of the plausibility of the movie because the complexity of the traps are able to be figured out so quickly by the characters but it’s a movie so the viewer just goes with it.

The performances are decent. Russell emerges with the best turn but Roden and Cocquerel are attractive new talents who will most likely have bright futures ahead. Miller holds his own beside Russell who maintains her character’s strength and perseverance all throughout the movie. When the movie unveils its secrets, Zoey’s personal integrity is put in to question. Admittedly, it would help if you have seen the first film in order to understand all the twists and turns the movie throws at its audience.

There are a lot of better movies playing right now but if you’re looking for a suspenseful film with enough thrills to keep you from getting bored and you have enjoyed the Final Destination or Saw pictures, then you may find yourself genuinely surprised at how well Escape Room: Tournament of Champions holds your attention. I personally found the movie pretty standard in a lot of scenes having seen all the pictures in the aforementioned franchises but I think the target audience of the new picture will like it a lot more than I did.

Rating: 6/10

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