Director
Storm Ashwood

Starring
Josh McConville, Hugh Sheridan, Firass Dirani and Rena Owens

Escape and Evasion is the confused story of Seth (Josh McConville), a retired soldier who is suffering from severe PTSD after his last mission ended in tragedy. When the sister of one of his missing squad members turns up seeking answers about their mission, Seth is forced to confront the events that have been haunting him for months.

On paper Escape and Evasion is a relevant look into the effects of combat on the psyche of soldiers, unfortunately the films promise ends in its synopsis. Written and directed (poorly) by the relatively unknown and inexperienced Storm Ashwood, it’s astonishing that some fairly credible Australian actors actually signed on to this abomination of a script. From the messy opening to the implausible character arcs and the ‘ah this will do’ ending, the only thing consistent in this film is how bad it really is.

The underdeveloped production quality and amateurish direction is at odds with the capabilities of the actors. Josh McConville shows his talent with the little he has to work with, but you can’t help but feel sorry for how stupid he’s made to look due to the haphazard script. First timer Juwan Sykes is for some unknown reason made to have an American accent which he fails to execute particularly well, and it was hard to believe that I was watching the same Firass Dirani who has been excellent in other Australian films like Last Dance, given how wooden his performance was here.

The only good news when it comes to Escape and Evasion is that it has a very limited cinema release, so the chance of an unsuspecting member of the public being accidentally subjected to this mess is minimal. Even the most avid supporters of Australian cinema will find little to get excited about here.

0.5 Stars

Moviedoc thanks Backlot Films for the opportunity to review this film.

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