Poster
Watch

Escape

탈주

  • Status: Released
  • 03-07-2024
  • Runtime: 96 min
  • Score: 7.356
  • Vote count: 52

After completing his required decade of military service and being honored as a hero, a North Korean sergeant makes a sudden shocking attempt to defect to the South, risking life and limb for the chance to finally determine his own destiny.

Lee Je-hoon

Lim Kyu-nam

Koo Kyo-hwan

Lee Hyun-sang

Hong Xa-bin

Kim Dong-hyuk

Seo Hyun-woo

Major Cha

Lee Sung-wook

Lieutenant Hong

Yoo Tae-joo

Captain Ryu

Jung Jun-won

Second Lieutenant Park

Jang Young-nam

Dong-hyuk's Mother

Song Kang

Min Sun-woo

Esom

Nomad Leader

Lee Ho-jung

Girl with Rifle

Shin Hyun-ji

Sang-gu's Sister

Lee Ho-cheol

Drunken General

Kim Sang-heun

Officer Jung

Park Yoon-hee

Director of the General Political Department

Woo Jeong-won

Director's Wife

Cha Soon-bae

Division Commander

Song Yo-sep

Battalion Commander

Jin Yong-uk

Company Commander

Jang Yo-hoon

Squad 1

O Seung-baek

Squad 2

Jung Ha-neul

Rifle

Lee Tae-young

On-call

Choi Min-woo

Division Officer

Bae Cheol-soo

Radio DJ

Park Ga-young

Ballroom Woman

Kim Yoon-bae

Wandering Man

Lee Seung-yong

Security Guard

Kim Han-sang

Ballroom Officer

Lee Moo-nyoung

Ballroom Officer

Ko Seo-jeong

Kyu-nam's mother

Kim Dong-hun

Squad member

Kim Dha-sol

Company Commander

MovieGuys

Having seen the trailers for Escape I looked forward to this film but somehow, it didn't quite live up, to my expectations. On the upside there is a lot of decent action and characterisations. The two main protagonists, the soldier trying to defect to the South and the North Korean senior officer, pursing him, are well rendered and inherently interesting. That said, Escape fails to bring things together in a wholly satisfying way. It repeatedly builds and dissipates tension over the course of the film, making the experience feel uneven and at times, a little repetitive. On a different note there's also a dash of the by now usual woke nonsense, clumsily designed to highlight the "intolerance" of the North Korean regime towards people of differing sexual proclivities. I don't really care but the incessant politicking is tiresome. You could argue too, there's a counter argument for being "tolerant" of differing, non-westernized, societal norms but anyway...... In summary, a reasonable action thriller that could have been a lot more enjoyable again, with a tighter, more focused script.