NO ESCAPE (15)

3 stars

In an unspecified Asian country, a group of rebels stage an assassination on the heavily guarded prime minister - and that’s about as deep as the politics get in this enjoyably daft action thriller.

Meanwhile Owen Wilson is Jack, an American engineer for a water company who has travelled to Asia for work with his wife (Lake Bell) and two young daughters. On the plane they meet a scarred (and dreadfully accented) Pierce Brosnan, who clearly looks like he’s going to play some part in proceedings once we get down to business.

They arrive in the country just before it all kicks off, and the first Jack knows of the coup is the next morning when he’s out for a stroll. As a street gang faces off against police in riot gear, Jack becomes literally caught in the middle and is forced to flee for his life in a city that’s suddenly descended into anarchy.

Any police or military presence disappears, with a mob attacking the hotel and murdering westerners and leaving Jack and his family in grave danger. There’s real power and tension in a gripping and frightening sequence as the hotel comes under siege and they try to make their way to safety.

Most of the rest of the movie continues in this vein and there’s much excitement in the wildly improbable pursuits and life and death hide and seek games that follow. It reaches its height of silliness in a sequence where Jack must throw his daughters from one rooftop to another to escape the advancing mob.

You can only really laugh at such things, and it’s clear this isn’t a film that wishes to be taken too seriously.

It doesn’t really have any designs beyond “white family in peril from bad foreigners” and that’s fine. If you’re willing to overlook the potential for xenophobia then it’s easy to engage with, thrilling and distressing and very solidly put together. It is what it is, and you can’t criticise it for not being about characters other than this family.

Wilson is an interesting choice as an action man, and he throws himself into it with relish while not revelling in the violence or in any way excelling, which makes him a hero worth getting behind.

There’s plenty of danger even before Brosnan gets to show his hand, and once he shows up guns blazing the daftness only increases.

The set-up is solid, the title is generic and the follow through is committed, with barely any respite. If you’re after a perfectly enjoyable if utterly preposterous thriller then No Escape might not be subtle, but it sure is effective.

Director: John Erick Dowdle

Running time: 103 mins

DOPE (15)

3 stars

Among a trio of Los Angeles geeks who like their 90s hip-hop culture, the smart Malcolm (Shameik Moore) wants to go to Harvard.

He’s the movie cliché of the kid from the poor, crime-ridden neighbourhood with the single mother, but he (and the film) knows it. That’s what gives the energetic Dope its fresh look, treating well worn situations not with parody but with a lighter than usual touch.

It still takes in some very serious business though, as Malcolm encounters a dealer and ends up in accidental possession of a bag of drugs. This is the catalyst for a likeable, somewhat ramshackle adventure as he and his pals are chased by those who want their product back, with a number of pitstops along the way.

Sometimes these are a little out of keeping with the general tone, but in many ways this is a fairly standard teen romp, one of those pinging around town and getting into scrapes odysseys that delivers some episodes that are stronger than others.

It can be guilty of losing focus, and sometimes requires a certain ethical looseness, so what starts out invigorating turns a bit messy and stretched in the second half. Luckily it has bigger intentions, tackling race inequality and preconceptions on the way to a strong finish.

Director: Rick Famuyiwa

Running time: 103 mins

AMERICAN ULTRA (15)

2 stars

Mike (Jesse Eisenberg) and his girlfriend Phoebe (Kristen Stewart) are a small town couple who enjoy their chilled out stoner lifestyle.

When it turns out Mike is actually a sleeper agent and the Ultra programme is activated, the CIA want to eliminate him - and suddenly Mike is killing guys with spoons, freaking out while Phoebe stays in control of the situation.

The mix of bloody action and stoner comedy aimed for here can sometimes be awkward, though the clash between Mike’s Bourne stuff and his obliviousness provides a nice balance.

The action is swift and brutal and generally quite well executed, yet the film is strangely lethargic for stretches and the jokes it tries for aren’t really funny enough.

The main problem is a lack of purpose or point, and while there’s nothing too wrong with the concept, American Ultra is really quite juvenile without offering a reason to stick with it.

Director: Nima Nourizadeh

Running time: 96 mins

ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL (12A)

3 stars

The Me of the title of this self-consciously quirky drama is teenager Greg (Thomas Mann) and the dying girl is Rachel (Olivia Cooke), whom Greg barely knows when he learns she has been diagnosed with leukaemia.

At first glance it’s an overly familiar high school effort, with Greg wanting to belong to all the cliques, but as he and Rachel become friends it develops into a bit more than that, smacking very much of recent John Green efforts.

In conception it’s none-more-indie, but it has faith in its characters which helps, though not as much as a toning down of its hat-wearing hipster credentials might have – as well as bouts of homemade animation, one of its main affectations is the movies Greg and his buddy Earl (RJ Cyler) make together.

Greg is funny in a clumsy, over-sharing kind of way, though Rachel only really exists for his benefit, and it can be too busy focussing on moments to keep an eye on the bigger picture, but there’s enough to enjoy to warrant a look.

Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Running time: 105 mins