Escape Room: Tournament of Champions – A Well-Rounded Sequel

2019’s Escape Room was a surprise hit, generating decent box office revenue in spite of its low budget, therefore a sequel was inevitable and here is is with Escape Room: Tournament of Champions. Offering more of the same of what made the original film so successful, fans of that film will be at home here while others won’t be changing their minds. Featuring merely more yet improved escape room action, the film doesn’t offer much more and feels more on the thin side, choosing to stretch its overarching story further than what is arguably there therefore its ending shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. That being said, the escape room action, starring a mostly new group of contestants, still brings plenty of thrills. Though being in the moment is one thing, it all has to lead to something to make it all worth it and the lack of a payoff is disappointing. Nonetheless, returning cast members Taylor Russell, Logan Miller, and Deborah Ann Woll all shine and give us easily rootable characters to follow across the craziness.

A title like Escape Room: Tournament of Champions more or less explains what this film is about, however, that was essentially window dressing for the actual story as four new contestants, who’ve survived their respective games, joined Zoe (Russell) and Ben (Miller) where they’d all find themselves part of a new game. In the midst of getting revenge on Minos for the events of the previous film (the film features a brief montage of the events of the previous film at the beginning so viewing that film isn’t necessary), Zoe and Ben are even more motivated to survive, more so the former who was consumed by her quest for justice, but little did they know the true extent of the power of Minos. When it came to the actual game itself, the escape rooms were more inventive (boasting some stellar production design) this time around as the stakes were raised even higher. While the final outcome was never in question, watching the rooms play out was still exciting and tense. They meant a little more as they all told a story that may be key in exposing Minos.

The film may not have made much headway in exposing Minos, the film’s new characters, albeit thin, at least made an impression in being more than mere fodder in service of the story (but their fates shouldn’t come as much of a surprise either). Participating and prevailing in other Minos escape room games, they were the champions in the film’s subtitle of course though they didn’t mean all that much in the end. With a brief running time of under 90 minutes, the film’s brisk pace will make it feel shorter than that for better or worse, leaving some audiences thrilled and others wondering if that was it. The film was ultimately at its best when it focused on the escape rooms while its weak attempts to tie them back into its main story felt awkward and a missed opportunity. Either way, this is only a minor gripe as the film does more than enough to warrant the watch.

At the end of the day, the best part of Escape Room: Tournament of Champions was the great performances from Russell and Miller as Zoe and Ben, especially the former, and their chemistry. Just like the original film, Russell’s Zoe continues to be the heart of this sequel. The only developed character, she was compelling to watch and connect to on an emotional level, making it into something more than another mindless venture but even then, it still held her back. Miller provided solid support as Ben, however, this sequel was undisputedly Russell’s.

An improvement over the original, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions brings enough to the table but its staying power is sure to last as long as its short running time.