To identify which one you are watching, note the theatrical one is the one starting with a therapy session, while the extended one is the one starting with a 2003 flashback. This is a spoiler free review to tell you the differences between them without revealing the actual story of each. I think many people are not aware of the two very different versions telling a different story, and my guess is that majority of the really low rates are coming from peope who watched the theatrical version. It's a very different movie where the beginning and the end tell a complete different story with complete different characters, while only the middle part of the two versions is identical. Despite the misleading titles, the extended cut is NOT just the same movie with a few extra scenes. But if you miss “Escape Room” while it’s in theatres, you can probably miss it altogether.Note this movie has 2 versions, one is the cinema version called the "theatrical cut" and is 1h 28m and more common to find, and the other is called the "extended cut" and is 1h 36m. “Escape Room” may be a welcome oasis at the start of January’s seemingly vast pre-Oscars wasteland. (The second-to-last puzzle room, which looks like a condemned hospital ward, is especially tedious). But their secrets aren’t dark enough, nor are their Rube-Goldbergian trials wild enough to be memorable. Sure, it's less fun than the "Saw" movies, but why doesn’t “Escape Room” work on its own terms? The characters all have dark secrets that ostensibly give meaning to their Sisyphean struggles. And an upside-down billiards room is only noteworthy because of its annoyingly malfunctioning jukebox (it plays only one song, loudly and frequently!) and rapidly collapsing ceiling, I mean floor. The oven-heated waiting room features dull clues, like an (apparently) unread copy of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and a barely full water-cooler, too. To be fair: the death trap set pieces are united by dumb-fun themes, like Tim Burton Room or Dirty Hospital Ward. You probably already know what’s going to happen to Ben and Zoey, but that also wouldn’t be a problem if the rest of “Escape Room” wasn’t so uninspired. And Taylor Russell’s withdrawn college student Zoey is exclusively defined by her exasperating savant-like behavior. Logan Miller-as the twitchy (but young!) alcoholic Ben-is maybe one of the least convincing Byronic teenage protagonists in a recent horror film. None of this would be so bad if the two least interesting performers and characters didn’t overshadow everyone else. Heck, even the characteristically charming Deborah Ann Woll-as the tough, capable war vet Amanda-is barely able to steal a single scene (you’ll know it when you see it). And Tyler Labine, in the role of the likeably clueless trucker Mike, barely does anything. Unfortunately, Nik Dodani and Jason Ellis-who respectively play clueless puzzle nerd Danny and hothead know-it-all Jason-are often loud and annoying. Still, that might be something you do while watching “Escape Room” given how threadbare the rest of the film is. If you’re like me, you probably don’t watch movies like “Escape Room” and “Saw” for their characters or performances. But then the suite’s door handle breaks, their disembodied host’s voice disappears (surprise: she was a recording!), and a powerful convection oven-style heater turns on. They follow her instructions and exchange introductory pleasantries. A woman’s voice tells them to wait to be seen. Six thrill-seekers pile into the waiting room of a non-descript Chicago office building. “Escape Room” also feels pretty schematic since very few plots twists serve to develop the film’s cipher-like characters. Sadly, “Escape Room” is only longer and more impersonal than what came before it. That wouldn’t be a problem if there were other major differences between “Escape Room” and the “Saw” sequels. But “Escape Room” is also anemic compared to the “Saw” movies, as you might imagine based on the film’s comparatively weak PG-13 rating. “Escape Room” has a handful of enjoyably bonkers moments, most of which involve nonsensical death traps.
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