Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger haven’t made a solid action movie since their prison film Escape Plan – which is over a decade old. For many critics, the first Escape Plan movie arrived far too late. Had Arnie and Stallone made a film together in the 1980s or 1990s, that would have been considered a major event. Instead, their first feature-length collaboration – after Arnold had previously cameoed in two of Stallone’s The Expendables films – arrived in 2013. Escape Plan bombed domestically and only received 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, but thanks to overseas audiences, it grossed $137 million.
The film was a decent-sized hit, but nobody considered it a highlight in either Stallone or Schwarzenegger’s filmographies. Time has been kind to Escape Plan though, and while it lacks the bombast and bodycount of the films they made during their heydays, it’s still a great night’s entertainment. Sly and Arnie’s careers have since gone in different directions, but their choice of projects in the years that followed has been consistently disappointing.
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Arnie And Stallone Haven’t Made A Good Action Film Since 2013’s Escape Plan
Sly and Arnold have been on a downward slide since Escape Plan
After Escape Plan, the next Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone movie was Expendables 3 in 2014. This entry attempted to move the series in a PG-13 direction and was overstuffed with characters and generic action. In short, the threequel was a dud, and things only got worse for its leading men. Schwarzenegger’s Sabotage is a gory Agatha Christie adaptation that bombed so hard it essentially killed his leading man career; both Terminator Genisys and Dark Fate received tepid critical and commercial receptions too.
|
Every Escape Plan Movie |
Rotten Tomatoes Rating |
|---|---|
|
Escape Plan (2013) |
50% |
|
Escape Plan 2: Hades (2018) |
7% |
|
Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019) |
N/A |
Stallone has fared no better; Rambo: Last Blood made its budget back, but was critically drubbed and even creator David Morrell disowned it. Sly’s STV action vehicles like the Escape Plan sequels have all received bad notices, and 2023’s Armor earned Stallone a rare 0% Rotten Tomatoes rating. The only outlier from this period is James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad from 2021, though in Stallone’s case, this was only a voice-over role.
The box-office failure of Expendables 4 in 2023 also killed off one of the biggest Stallone movie franchises, while Schwarzenegger has largely stepped away from movies following the disappointment of Dark Fate. Both Stallone and Arnie remain icons of the action genre, but ever since Escape Plan, the last decade of follow-up projects hasn’t been great for fans of either actor.
Why Arnold Passed On The Escape Plan Sequels But Stallone Returned
Schwarzenegger wisely escaped the Escape Plan saga
The muted response to Escape Plan in the U.S. seemed to kill any hope for a sequel, but its shock success overseas changed all that. When Escape Plan 2: Hades was first announced, it was confirmed that Stallone would return as escape expert Ray Breslin and that Schwarzenegger was considering a return too. Arnold ultimately passed on Escape Plan 2 to focus on The New Celebrity Apprentice and other movie projects. His place in the sequels was taken by Dave Bautista, playing an old friend of Breslin’s called Trent DeRosa.
Escape Plan: Hades is one of Sylvester Stallone’s worst movies of recent years…
Despite their prominent billing on the posters for both films, Stallone and Bautista are playing supporting roles in Escape Plan 2 and 3. In fact, Bautista’s part in the second film is little more than a cameo. Hades is one of Stallone’s worst movies of recent years too, with the star himself saying of the production (via Instagram) that it was “… TRULY THE MOST HORRIBLY PRODUCED FILM I have ever had the misfortune to be in.”
Stallone took more creative involvement in The Extractors: Escape Plan, with his old friend John Herzfeld taking over as director. The third film is an improvement on Hades, featuring more visceral action and a streamlined story; it’s still a mediocre film though. It would have been a treat to see Stallone and Schwarzenegger reunite once again, but they both deserved better than the Escape Plan follow-ups.
Why So Many Of Stallone & Schwarzenegger’s Recent Action Movies Have Disappointed
The action movies Sly and Arnie made their names on are harder to find
The popularity of the action movies Schwarzenegger and Stallone made their names on began to wane during the late 1990s when effects-driven blockbusters like Jurassic Park and Men in Black took over. Both actors struggled to readjust in the years that followed; Arnold famously went into politics instead, while Stallone strongly considered retirement after completing Rocky Balboa. Thankfully, nostalgia for their particular brand of big screen chaos gave them late-career second winds, leading to films like Rambo or The Last Stand.
The Suicide Squad hitting number one at the box office in 2021 made Sylvester Stallone one of only two actors to have appeared in a number one movie across six decades; the other star is Harrison Ford.
An unfortunate reality is that the films that made them stars have largely died out, and are either being produced on low budgets (such as Armor or the Escape Plan sequels), or the bigger movies are rushed into production with unfocused screenplays that fail to appeal to fans or newcomers (the Terminator sequels). Escape Plan feels like a minor miracle in hindsight, for giving its stars good material to work with and putting them in a vehicle that felt modern but retro at the same time.
In contrast, films like Expendables 4 or Dark Fate felt stale and lacking in innovation. Both of those films also reduced Stallone and Arnie to supporting roles, basically turning them into guest stars in their own franchises.
Stallone And Arnold’s Next Projects Can Turn Their Action Movie Fortunes Around
Arnold Vs Jack Reacher has a nice ring to it
It may have been dire straits for Schwarzenegger and Stallone in terms of action cinema recently, but things could be looking up. Stallone’s upcoming Alarum should redeem his 0% for Armor, with the film being a spy thriller featuring Scott Eastwood and Reacher’s Willa Fitzgerald. Speaking of Reacher, Schwarzenegger’s next outing The Man with the Bag casts him as Santa Claus, who enlists the help of Alan Ritchson’s thief to steal back his magical bag. The film is, fittingly enough, set to arrive during the 2025 holiday season.
Stallone also has a spy thriller called Never Too Old To Die on the way, where he plays a spy in a retirement home being targeted by a killer; there are also reports he will reprise his title role in the superhero sequel Samaritan. Stallone has also found fresh success on television with Tulsa King, while Arnie’s long-delayed sequel Kung Fury 2 with Michael Fassbender might finally see release in 2025.
Fun as Escape Plan was, the fact it’s the best action film that Arnold and Stallone have made in the last decade isn’t a great sign. Time and tastes might change, but it shouldn’t be this hard for either star to find a quality project. Hopefully, their upcoming films will reverse this trend and remind audiences why they liked them so much in the first place.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes, Instagram
An action thriller film that stars movie action heroes, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Escape Plan follows Lawyer Ray Breslin, a security tester who enters a supermax prison to study its defenses. To accomplish the breakout, he’ll enlist the help of an inmate named Emil, a self-proclaimed hero who steals from the rich and gives to the poor.
- Release Date
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October 10, 2013
- Runtime
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116minutes
- Budget
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$54 million
- Distributor(s)
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Summit Entertainment
, Lionsgate
