Credit: Netflix

You don’t get far into action films without running into Sylvester Stallone. He’s just… there, isn’t he? In fact, he has been there for years, before half of us were even born. Rocky, Rambo, The Expendables, we are talking proper staples. The films that get mentioned, even if you haven’t seen them in ages, will still be all over the place.

That’s the Stallone effect because you hear his name and you already know what the vibe is going to be like. Of course, you get heat and intensity, but it doesn’t say too much. When it hits you, it hits you. Now, having said that, no one gets away with a career like that without the odd misstep. Because what’s an actor without some memorable flops?

But you know what’s even rarer to find? A flop by an actor like Stallone is doing better than ever on a platform like Netflix. We’re talking about Escape Plan 2: Hades… yeah, that’s one of those.

Escape Plan 2 didn’t exactly set the world alight when it first came out. Bit of a shrug, really. People watched it, forgot about it, and yet, here we are. This film is now sitting like a queen at nine on Netflix, and that really makes you wonder things for a second there, huh!

Now, the first Escape Plan, that one actually had something going for it. Stallone and Schwarzenegger were locked inside a prison, trying to outsmart the whole system. Simple idea, clean execution, a bit of tension, job done. You knew what you were getting, and it delivered.

Escape Plan 2, though, tries to get a bit clever with it. So you’ve got Breslin back again, only now the prison Hades isn’t just secure; it’s all over the place. The layout keeps changing throughout the film, and everything is monitored this time. Sure, unpredictability is there, and all these elements make the film sound interesting on paper. Sprinkle some psychological elements and make it a bit intense, and you’ve got the perfect recipe.

But then you taste it, and it disappoints massively. You see, Escape Plan 2 sort of drifts along. There is no doubt that the idea is there, no question, but the execution is a bit shaky. You’ve seen better, let’s put it that way.

And Stallone himself is in it, yeah, but not in the way you’d expect. Feels more on the sidelines than at the centre of it. You still get that presence that whole Stallone thing, but it’s not carrying the film the way it used to.

But why is it trending now? Well… this is where it gets interesting.

The first one will be the Stallone effect, and it’s still very real. People see his name and press play, no questions asked. Then there is the sequel curiosity factor, which works more than anything. A lot of viewers have seen the first Escape Plan, or at least know what it is, and once the second one appears, the “might as well” thing happens.

And another very important reason can be that people are wondering how bad it was. Come on, how many times have you watched a film, hearing it was bad? More than once for sure.

So yeah, Escape Plan 2 might’ve been a flop first time round. But now? It’s back, sitting in the charts, getting another go.