Escape Room (2019) will have you searching for the nearest exit too.

There’s a laziness to “Escape Room” that’s hard to shake off. From its cookie-cutter characters to its predictable checkbox approach to disposing of its cast, it can’t seem to find the will to try and differentiate itself from its obvious influences.

When six strangers receive mysterious invitations to participate in an Escape Room, they quickly find themselves trapped in a maze of deadly traps and must learn to trust each other in order to survive.

There’s a blandness to the movie that undercuts much of its attempts to create a sense of dread or tension. The bullet-point characterisation and unsubtle backstories make it dully predictable and you’ve probably got a good chance of predicting the order in which each of the cast will meet their end and how about five minutes after they’ve gathered in the first room.

Most of the deaths are uninspired and unspectacular although the film briefly manages to build some tension during the billiard room sequence and a psychedelic trap room shows some late promise but by then you’re too bored to care.

When it’s not aping “Saw”, there are echoes of “Cube” too but it lacks wit and inventiveness and irritates with a series of false endings which run the risk of giving you eye strain from all the rolling they’ll be doing.

4/10