Escape Room review – You’ll want to escape this movie

The reasoning behind these deadly shenanigans is never clearly defined.

Escape Room. Photo: Sony Pictures

Escape Room is not for sissies. It’s a game in which you die.

Though similar in concept to the Raw series without the gore, Adam Robitel’s production is a tedious conglomeration of ideas that become more absurd the longer the movie progresses.

It invites a group of young adults to become part of a puzzle with the dark premise: find the clues or die. They have to work their way through a series of rooms and with each step there is the real danger of dying.

Escape Room; Photo: Sony Pictures

It appears the assembled group of six strangers have all survived death. Now, somebody out there is determined to make sure they don’t escape this time. It’s payback with a vengeance.

The reasoning behind these deadly shenanigans is never clearly defined, but director Adam Robitel (Insidious: The Last Key), working from a script by writer Bragi Schut (Season of the Witch), tries his best to keep the momentum moving, with each room containing a more deadly challenge.

They all run a gauntlet involving complications such as furnace jets, an artificial Arctic zone and a study with hidden traps. The prize for the winner (if there is one) is $10 000.

We meet shy student Zoey (Taylor Russell) and an antisocial grocery stacker Ben (Logan Miller) first. Then the others join the pack, including a chatty nerd (Nik Dodani). But they soon disappear as the pace of the game quickens.