Owen Wilson’s banned action film is flying up Netflix’s top 10

Stephen Porzio

It also features a big Irish star in one of the lead roles.

An action movie starring Owen Wilson and Pierce Brosnan that wound up being banned in one particular country has been climbing up the Netflix top 10.

That film is No Escape and tells the story of American businessman Jack Dwyer (Wilson), his wife Annie (Lake Bell) and their two young daughters who arrive in Southeast Asia to begin a new life.

“As Jack’s company plans to improve the region’s water quality, the family quickly learns that they’re right in the middle of a political uprising,” the plot synopsis reads.

“Armed rebels attack the hotel where they’re staying, ordered to kill any foreigners that they encounter. Amid utter chaos, Jack must find a way to save himself and his loved ones from the violence erupting all around them.”

Brosnan, meanwhile, plays an enigmatic British traveller named Hammond who the Dwyers meet in Asia.

Upon release in 2015, No Escape received mixed reviews but was a box office hit – grossing $54.4 million and a reported $5 million budget. That said, it did cause some controversy.

This is rooted in the fact that the movie never reveals the country in Southeast Asia in which its story takes place.

Though No Escape was shot in Thailand, a condition of it being filmed there was that the film never identify the country as its setting.

The trailers for the movie, however, wound up causing controversy in Cambodia over their use of upside down Khmer lettering on police shields shown in the action flick.

Khmer is the official language of Cambodia.

Taking great exception to the implication that the events of No Escape were taking place in the country, Cambodia’s government banned the movie from being screened there.

Directed by John Erick Dowdle (As Above So Below, Devil, Quarantine), No Escape is currently sitting at number five in Netflix’s top 10 movie chart for Ireland and the UK having only been added to the streamer last week. It is also streaming on Netflix in the US.

Meanwhile, for information on some other recent Netflix additions, scroll below.