Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is the sequel to the 2019 thriller Escape Room, in which a group of six strangers—who were all the sole survivors of various disasters—were put through a series of deadly escape rooms to discover who would be the ultimate survivor. However, in the end, two of the contestants managed to escape—Zoey Davis (Taylor Russell) and Ben Miller (Logan Miller). In the process, they discovered that an organization Minos was behind the escape rooms, and found coordinates to its location in Manhattan. As the sequel opens, Zoey is eager to head to New York City to find Minos and take them down so no one else has to go through what they did, and Ben reluctantly agrees to join her. But when they arrive at the coordinates, they soon find themselves once again unwitting participates in a deadly new series of escape rooms. Joining them this time around are four other strangers, all of whom had previously managed to survive one of Minos’ sick contests as well. Theo (Carlito Olivero) is a boxer who just wants to get back to his pregnant wife, Brianna (Indya Moore) is a travel blogger who was previously pitted against other influencers, Nathan (Thomas Cocquerel) is a man of the cloth who is still haunted as to why he was the one spared in his group of faithful contestants, and Rachel (Holland Roden) is a grounded, rational and sarcastic young woman who doesn’t share any info about her past escape room challenge with the others. This group is going to have to join forces, trust one another, and work together if they are going to have any chance of making it through this deadly Tournament of Champions alive.
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions takes what was fun and thrilling about the first film, and amps things up with more character drama and backstory, and making the rooms a bit more elaborate and challenging. The new contestants are given varied and diverse backstories that help to provide an interesting new dynamic between the players, without the characters feeling two dimensional or stereotypical. Most of the fun of an escape room is being there, trying to figure out the puzzles as you race against the clock. The rooms in this sequel are very complex, and the characters are usually under immense time pressure. The filmmakers are, for the most part, able to find a good balance between letting the viewer discover things, the thrill, excitement and danger of the situation, and having the contestants figure out the puzzle solutions/explain their logic to their teammates in a timely manner. While some of the intricate clues may be figured out a little too easily by the characters, it helps keep the film moving along at a swift pace. Each new escape room these former champions face feels like its own mini-movie, with lots of elaborate details and new deadly challenges. It’s always exciting to see what comes next for those who manage to make it to the next room. These escape rooms would be a lot of fun to play in real life…well, without the life or death stakes to them. The film also has an interesting overall framing arc to it, though this differs between the two cuts of the film, which I’ll talk about more in a bit.
With its PG-13 rating, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions doesn’t try to be a shocking gore-fest like a Saw movie, but rather takes more of a psychological thriller approach, which is quite successful. The feel of imminent danger for the characters is still there, despite a lack of graphic shots of limbs being chopped off, faces being melted, etc. It never felt like this film was ever hindered by its rating. Instead, it forces the filmmakers to be a bit more creative and amp up the psychological side of things.
Sony’s Blu-ray release offers two cuts of the film—the Theatrical Version and the Extended Version—though the word “extended” is a bit of a misnomer. Yes, this version is slightly longer, but the opening act and final 20 minutes of each cut are completely different, making each version feel like its own film, and giving viewers who saw the film in the theater over 25 minutes of new footage to check out. The core escape room challenges for both films are identical, while the differences mainly lie in the framing devices and final challenge for each cut. In the Theatrical Version, the film spends more time with Zoey and Ben before they head to New York City to find Minos and ultimately join the new game. Zoey is seeing a psychiatrist to help her overcome her fear of flying, and the two friends have more of a debate about whether or not they should actually go seek out those behind Minos. The Extended Version of the film starts with a flashback, giving viewers a glimpse of the Puzzlemaker and where the inspiration for some of the escape rooms in the film came from. This cut also speeds up Zoey and Ben’s entrance into the new game. The final act of the Theatrical Version of the film ties back more closely to the first film, though this may be a bit devisive in the way that it retcons some things from the original movie. This cut also gives viewers more of a fun, twisty ending. The Extended Version of the film delves more into the Puzzlemaker storyline introduced in the new opening, and provides more of a solid conclusion.
If I had to choose between the two cuts, I would say I preferred the Extended Version as it delves more into the background and details of the game, and feels a bit less convoluted than the retcon. However, the twisty final moments of the Theatrical Version are so much fun and would be missed—a true extended version integrating both cuts would have been the best of both worlds. Both cuts of the film provide a short recap of the events of the first movie to get viewers up to speed. That said, I think the extended cut actually works better for folks who haven’t seen the first film and wanted to just jump in with this second movie.
Sony’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds great. The picture is clean, and showcases the beauty and elaborate detail that went into designing all of this film’s amazing escape rooms. That said, some of the darker scenes don’t fare as well as the brighter sequences. Also, the textures in faces, while perfectly sufficient, don’t look quite as detailed as they could be. The audio track provides clear dialogue (which primarily comes from the center channel) and makes excellent use of the surround and stereo channels to fully immerse the viewer in the sounds of these deadly escape rooms, making every crunch, crack, screech and rumble come to life. The release also includes 15 minutes of EPK style behind-the-scenes featurettes with the cast and filmmakers. The Blu-ray disc comes packed in a locking HD keepcase with a cardboard slipcover, and includes an HD Movies Anywhere-compatible digital copy of both versions of the film.
What’s Included:
Film: (Theatrical: 1:28:03, Extended: 1:35:45)
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
- Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Descriptive Audio, Hungarian Dolby Digital 5.1, Polish Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles: English, English SDH, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Polish
- Digital code redeems HD versions of both cuts of the film in Movies Anywhere. Which primary cut is available on which connected service varies, with the other cut usually offered as a bonus feature.
- Extended Version (1:35:45)
Alternate cut of the film containing over 25 minutes of new footage with its different first and final act.
- Dazzling But Deadly (5:50)
The cast and filmmakers discuss the various intricate escape rooms the characters face this time around, designing and bringing these rooms to life, and how they are like their own characters in the film. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with director Adam Robitel, executive producers Philip Waley & Karina Rahardja, production designer Edward Thomas, special effects supervisor Brandon Van Der Merwe, stunt coordinator Anneli Muller, and stars Taylor Russell (“Zoey Davis”), Carlito Olivero (“Theo”), Logan Miller (“Ben Miller”), Indya Moore (“Brianna”), Thomas Cocquerel (“Nathan”) & Holland Roden (“Rachel”). - Game of Champions (5:10)
The cast and filmmakers talk about how the returning characters have changed since the last film, and what the new contestants and actors bring into the mix. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with director Adam Robitel, executive producer Karina Rahardja, and stars Logan Miller, Taylor Russell, Carlito Olivero, Holland Roden & Indya Moore. - Upping the Ante (3:55)
The cast and filmmakers discuss what made the first film such a success and how they are raising the stakes this second time around. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with production designer Edward Thomas, director Adam Robitel, special effects supervisor Brandon Van Der Merwe, executive producers Karina Rahardja & Philip Waley, and stars Logan Miller, Taylor Russell, Holland Roden & Thomas Cocquerel.
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Blu-ray:
Digital (Limited Time Offer):
Extras:
Final Thoughts:
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is an entertaining follow-up to the original Escape Room film that feels like a natural continuation of the story. It has all the excitement and thrills of the original while also amping up the complexity of the puzzles, and adding some fun new characters. It makes for a great popcorn flick—I enjoyed it just as much if not more the second time around. Sony’s Blu-ray features a solid presentation and a small selection of behind-the-scenes featurettes, but the most exciting part is that it includes two different cuts of the movie. There are significant changes between the first and final acts of both cuts, allowing the viewer to experience the film in two different ways.
