Escape Plan 2: Hades (2018)
Direct-to-streaming is in some respects the direct-to-video market of the current decade. However, that comes with a few caveats, as sometimes if a studio gets cold feet about a movie they’ll ditch it to streaming, even if it’s a quality product. Alex Garland’s Annihilation being an example of this. However, that isn’t the case of Escape Plan 2: Hades which clearly falls into the category of a cheaper and inferior sequel. Both Sylvester Stallone and Curtis Jackson return respectively to their previous roles, but Arnold Schwarzenegger is conspicuously absent this time round. In other cast changes, Jamie King replaces Amy Ryan as Abigail Ross. Sadly, the marketing for the movie is deliberately misleading and despite featuring prominently in the advertising, Dave Bautista only has a support role, appearing in the final third of the movie. The director for this instalment is Steven C. Miller, whose body of work is predominantly direct-to-streaming action movies and low budget thrillers.
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