Inescapable (2012)

19% of critics liked it
(21 reviews)
31% of users liked it
(286 ratings)

This politically charged and emotionally powerful thriller follows a successful businessman who suddenly finds his life turned upside down when his journalist daughter goes missing during her trip to his hometown of Damascus. He knows that the reason for his exile is tied to his daughter's… More This politically charged and emotionally powerful thriller follows a successful businessman who suddenly finds his life turned upside down when his journalist daughter goes missing during her trip to his hometown of Damascus. He knows that the reason for his exile is tied to his daughter's disappearance. His first trip home in over 30 years turns into a frantic quest to rescue his daughter while reconnecting with the love of his life.

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Directed By: Ruba Nadda
Written By: Ruba Nadda
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Feb 22, 2013 Limited
Studio: IFC Films

Critic Reviews

Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
The film tries to meld politically charged personal drama with the action-movie tropes you'd expect in a story set in the Middle East. (Chase through a crowded marketplace? Brawl at the hamam? Check!)
Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post
The plot unfolds at a nice clip, but at no point does director Ruba Nadda evade expectations.
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times
One hopes "Inescapable" is only a momentary stumble for this promising filmmaker.
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
A Canadian nonthriller that plays like a heavily sedated hybrid of "Taken" and "Not Without My Daughter" ...
Ella Taylor, NPR
Inescapable is Nadda's first foray into thriller territory, and her inexperience shows in awkwardly mounted fight scenes and clumsy car chases, not to mention an almost fatally explanatory script.
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
Muddled and inert despite the best intentions, this inescapably dull thriller plays like a Middle Eastern take on Liam Neeson's "Taken."
Brandon Judell, CultureCatch
Clearly meaning Inescapable as an act of love, Ms. Nada, a Canadian filmmaker with Syrian/Palestinian parents, has instead done a great disservice to her gene pool and our film-loving sensibilities. Irksome would be a more appropriate title.
Robert Levin, amNewYork
The movie suffers from the conflict between its potboiler instincts and the filmmaker's understandable need to acknowledge the brutality of Syria's secretive regime.
Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com
Doesn't have the juice normally associated with such violent entertainment. Its interest in characterization is admirable, but there's little firepower where it counts the most.
Craig Seligman, Bloomberg News
The movie could just as well be set in Islamabad, Nairobi or any city Westerners find threatening. (It was filmed, in fact, in Johannesburg.) It would look about right on a cable channel at 9 p.m.
David Noh, Film Journal International
This international thriller-sparked by a nice, unexpected Marisa Tomei performance-starts off promisingly but trails off into cheap melodrama.
Sam Adams, AV Club
It's a deeply confused movie, sometimes productively so.
Donald J. Levit, ReelTalk Movie Reviews
Ruba Nadda's 2012 Toronto International Film Festival Gala Presentation is an okay actioner of the political mystery intrigue type.
Marshall Fine, Hollywood & Fine
Feels like a not-very-skillful attempt at making a certain kind of movie...repeatedly trips over its own shoelaces, calling attention to distinct story-telling shortcomings.
Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine
The film spins its wheels for almost an hour until collapsing under the weight of exposition that renders the mystery nearly besides the point.
Harvey S. Karten, Compuserve
A thriller based in Syria with grainy photography, absurd coincidences, one that is stiffly acted with stilted dialogue.

Read all 16 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Al S

A tense, smart, terrifically character driven and exciting suspense-thriller. It depends on story, characters and substance above all else and is surprisingly effective and genuinely moving. It's a riveting, well-crafted and nail-biting film that delivers some strong performances… More
A tense, smart, terrifically character driven and exciting suspense-thriller. It depends on story, characters and substance above all else and is surprisingly effective and genuinely moving. It's a riveting, well-crafted and nail-biting film that delivers some strong performances and gritty action. A solid and outstanding cast. Alexander Siddig is absolutely superb. Joshua Jackson is excellent. Oded Fehr is terrific. Marisa Tomei is wonderful. A tough, stylish, gripping and excellent movie. It's great to see a Canadian-produced film of this quality, they rarely get as good as this one.
Walter M

After his daugher Muna(Jay Anstey), a photographer, goes missing in Damascus, Adib(Alexander Siddig) is forced to return to his native Syria for the first time in decades where he is persona non grata to say the least. At least, he still has friends there like Fatima(Marisa Tomei)… More
After his daugher Muna(Jay Anstey), a photographer, goes missing in Damascus, Adib(Alexander Siddig) is forced to return to his native Syria for the first time in decades where he is persona non grata to say the least. At least, he still has friends there like Fatima(Marisa Tomei) who helps him enter the country and Sayid(Oded Fehr) who is now a big cheese in the security services. That's not to say Adib is helpless on his own as he discovers a couple of clues in his daugher's hotel room. Of course, there is nothing quite like protocol when he visits the Canadian embassy to check in with Paul Ridge(Joshua Jackson) before making a call to the Russian embassy. "Inescapable" is at best a half-baked thriller. Now, if only it had been a fully baked thriller, we could have gotten some fun out of the whole thing. As it is, there are some nice moments, especially the opening lock picking scene, and fine shots but not much beyond that. On the minus side, there is almost a running joke out of quickly obtained visas and characters here tend to get rescued not out of their own resourcefulness but out of somebody showing out of the blue. You need more than that level of potential watchfulness and a few mentions to fully document pre-civil war Syria as a police state which does not exactly come as a surprise. What is desperately needed in the movie is a broader perspective not only on the country but on Adib, along with more dramatic depth.

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Cast

Alexander Siddig
as Adib Abdel Kareem, Adib Abdul-Kareem
Marisa Tomei
as Fatima
Jay Anstey
as Muna
Joshua Jackson
as Paul
Oded Fehr
as Sayid
Saad Siddiqui

Inescapable (2012)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Al S

Walter M

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