Escape Room: Tournament of Champions

If, like us, you enjoyed the first part of the cinematographic saga Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, this sequel should, without any context, allow you to have a good time at the cinema, as this film doesn't try to sell what it isn't, and claims to be a genre film, and imposes itself as a masterful and efficient horrific thriller, even if it doesn't want to revolutionize the genre to which it belongs. We find in the credits of this film the same director, the same co-writer Maria Melnik, the same director of photography and the main actors Taylor Russell, Logan Miller, Deborah Ann Woll. 

The open ending of the first film left enough room to develop the universe and so we find two survivors of the Escape games created by the Minos Corporation, Zoey Davis (Taylor Russell) and Ben Miller (Logan Miller). After having had to go through many traps, they decide this time to face this global organization and decide to leave by car (Zoey is aerophobic) for New York at the headquarters of this company, but things will not go as planned. Here they are again forced to solve new puzzles with this time other people also unique survivors of other groups of escape games. Certainly Escape game 2: The World is a Trap (Escape Room: Tournament of Champions) only seems to build on the success of the first installment by offering a story that puts young adults in different escape game rooms (a subway car, a bank with a vault, a beach created in the manner of a vacation postcard, a reconstructed New York street with acid rain and finally a children's room in which another of the survivors we believe dead has also become one of the pawns of Minos Corporation.

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions does not shine by its originality but manages to capture our attention by proposing a scheme that has amply proven itself. It is not a pure coincidence to find in this film not only the atmosphere of the first part but also that of other film sagas such as Saw (with its original killings) but especially Final Destination in which characters had to find a way to survive at all costs. The result is an entertaining film that will certainly not teach us anything new about Minos Corporation but whose ending could bring interesting elements by making one of the characters a probable master of the game in a future installment.

However, in the way they want to propose a fast pace to the plot, the scriptwriters Will Honley, Maria Melnik, Daniel Tuch, Oren Uziel forget to give a real thickness to the other characters apart from Zoey Davis and Ben Miller and this has for counterpart to create a sufficiently strong link between the spectators and these characters and thus greatly spoils the efficiency of certain scenes. In the same way, the scenario takes up the principle of the previous part and makes that each new room must be deadly for one of the involuntary players of this deadly game. One could criticize the will to erase almost all gore scenes to make this film a claustrophobic thriller knowing how to play with the nerves of the spectators.

We suspect that the worldwide success of this film could lead to find the two main characters in a new chapter. We only hope that if there is a next installment, the script will better define the Minos Corporation and make sure to offer a stronger version than the first two installments, which were too wise to stand out as outstanding films.

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions
Directed by Adam Robitel
Screenplay by Will Honley, Maria Melnik, Daniel Tuch, Oren Uziel
Story by Christine Lavaf, Fritz Bohm
Based on Characters by Bragi F. Schut
Produced by Neal H. Moritz
Starring Taylor Russell, Logan Miller, Deborah Ann Woll, Holland Roden, Indya Moore, Thomas Cocquerel, Carlito Olivero
Cinematography : Marc Spicer
Edited by Steven Mirkovich, Peter Pav
Music by Brian Tyler, John Carey
Production companies : Columbia Pictures, Original Film
Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date : July 1, 2021 (Australia), July 16, 2021 (United States), august 11, 2021 (France)
Running time : 88 minutes

Seen on August 23, 2021 at Gaumont Disney Village, Room 10 seat A18

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