Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone) is an escape expert. He is hired to be put into prisons and escape. Abigail (Amy Ryan) and Hush (50 Cent) are his team and Lester Clark (Vincent D'Onofrio) gets them the job. The CIA comes calling to test a privately-run secret prison for the worst of the worst. When he's taken, his team lose track of him. The prison warden Hobbes (Jim Caviezel) refuses to let him go even though he gives the evacuation code. Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is one of the prisoners who helps Breslin but they're on their own.
I really love the first half of this movie. Sylvester Stallone really grew on me. The team and the jobs are interesting. Everything is going well. It makes sense why Hobbes wouldn't release Breslin at first. The first problem comes in the form of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Immediately, I am afraid of cheesy 80s action camp coming. For awhile, Arnold did his job and the story moves on. He did his best, and got a few jokes in. I actually prefer not to have the joking around. The sense of cheesy camp is always near and that's what the jokes are. Then the movie goes full on cheese. It's like a time warp into an old Arnold action movie when he takes the big machine gun.
There is also the problem of why some of these prisoners aren't just killed off. Why would a drug cartel care to keep Javed alive? No idea. Why not just torture Victor Manheim out of Rottmayer? No idea. Why wouldn't Hobbes kill Breslin once he finds out who he really is? No idea. There was somebody else (spoilers) who should want him dead. What happened?
It is so disappointing that this is not a better movie. It starts off so well but it's an obvious mistake to team up with Arnold doing serious action. That era is over and the guys are old. It may work in a jokey way in the Expendables franchise. This should be much better.
