The PM Entertainment production "No Escape No Return" was made just before the company started to make a serious name for itself with high quality direct to video actioners like "Rage" and "Last Man Standing". Indeed, this movie already has the PM trademarks of very good photography and lighting. Unfortunately, that's about all that's good that can be said of this otherwise sorry effort. Most of the blame can be placed on the shoulders of writer/director Charles T. Kanganis. His script, for one thing, is ridiculously padded. It takes FOREVER for the movie to introduce the three lead protagonists, and once that happens, it takes an equally long time to get them into the predicament that they spend most of the remaining movie trying to get out of. And the protagonists, when not coming across as incredibly bland, come off instead as unlikable. Part of that has to be the poor performances, but there's also plenty of dopey and/or stilted dialogue the actors are forced to say. The movie may have been saved by serviceable action sequences, but to tell the truth, the poor direction and editing saps any energy another director might have been able to contain. This is not the worst PM Entertainment production, but even fans of PM Entertainment (like myself) will find this really tough to sit through.
Review of No Escape No Return
