Escape Room 2: 5 Reasons Why It’s Better Than The First One (& 5 Why The First Is Better)

Released in January of 2019 to enthusiastic audiences and moderate critical acclaim, Escape Room became a surprise hit due to its interesting premise and exciting set pieces. The film was a fast-paced thrill ride that many viewers simply couldn’t get enough of.

Greenlit soon after the first film became a success, Escape Room: Tournament Of Champions tells the story of previous champions as they are forced into more elaborate situations. Considered by some to be better than the original Escape Room, there are multiple arguments for why each film is the better of the two.

10 Tournament Of Champions: The Ending

Throughout Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, viewers are led to believe that Zoey has issues going on planes due to the final reveal in the first film. However, the twist is that the entirety of the second film occurs before that original film’s reveal, leaving Zoey stranded once again in the airplane escape room.

Escape Room 2‘s twist ending works so well because it shows the previous events of the film in a new light, most notably giving a new basis for Zoe’s fear of flying. It also shows the power of Minos, as they are able to seemingly manipulate everything Zoey has thought was real.

9 Escape Room: The Final Escape Room

Hinted at in the beginning of the film, the final room concerns Ben as he tries to escape a room with the walls rapidly closing in on him. As the room around him gets smaller and smaller, Ben rushes to find the answer to the puzzle before barely making it out alive.

While Tournament of Champions‘ final escape room has its fair share of hold-your-breath suspense, this one is more memorable because of the visceral filmmaking as well as its claustrophobic nature.

8 Tournament Of Champions: Taylor Russell’s Performance

The lead character, Zoey is a very multifaceted person. Stricken with trauma due to her parents’ death in a plane crash, Zoey is soft-spoken but is unafraid to take the lead when the situation calls for it. Though her performance was criticized somewhat in the original film, Taylor Russell’s performance in Tournament of Champions excels.

Seeing as Zoey is naturally a more confident character in this one, Russell’s screen presence is stronger in this one. In addition, she is asked to dive into new emotional depths with her character, making her performance in the sequel more memorable.

7 Escape Room: Supporting Characters

While the supporting characters in Tournament Of Champions aren’t given as much development due to the series’ focus on Ben and Zoey, the first film in the series made sure to spend time on the surrounding characters in order to make the situations they are in more intense.

Each character in the original Escape Room is given more backstory than many main characters are given, and this backstory is used to further their character development later on. In particular, Jason and Amanda are standout supporting characters.

6 Tournament Of Champions: Bank Escape

One of the first escape rooms in the sequel is the bank escape room, where the characters must make it across the room into a bank vault before the timer goes out. The tiles on the floor occasionally activate deadly layers, and they have to figure out the safe path to the vault.

This scene is arguably the most intense sequence in the franchise so far due to the breakneck editing, a time limit that is seemingly impossible to overcome, and the complexity of the trap.

5 Escape Room: The Oven Room

In the first escape room that the group finds themselves in in the original film, the members encounter a life or death situation as the room begins heating up to unimaginable temperatures. After trying everything they can think of, they barely escape by pressing cups of water on coasters until the escape is unlocked.

This escape room works so well because of the inventive use of Fahrenheit 451, as well as the unexpected nature of the room. All thrust into a life or death situation with no warning, the panic of the characters elevates the tension of the scene.

4 Tournament Of Champions: World Building

While the first film focused a lot of attention on figuring out who was behind the escape rooms, the sequel focuses more on world-building and showing the power of Minos. Most notably, the climax of Tournament Of Champions shows the inner workings of the escape rooms as Zoey and Ben rush through Minos.

This focus on world-building makes Minos seem much more developed and all-powerful as an entity than the original film presented it to be. The sequel does a great job at showing just how much Minos can manipulate reality for its subjects.

3 Escape Room: Who’s Doing All Of This?

Much of Escape Room focuses on the characters trying to figure out who is behind the escape rooms and why they are being targeted. Chosen because they survived an event in their past due to luck, the group members eventually find out that the escape rooms are being run by an all-powerful company called Minos.

The mystery of who is behind everything provides a great sense of tension in the first film, a tension that is lacking somewhat in the second film. Neither films have delved too much into who is actually running Minos, allowing Minos to continue being a mysterious villainous organization.

2 Tournament Of Champions: Amanda’s Character Arc

Haunted by the loss of her daughter, Amanda falls to her death in the first film before she is able to escape. However, Tournament Of Champions reveals that Amanda survived the fall and was forced to create the escape rooms by Minos.

In addition to being a surprising and unexpected reveal, Amanda’s inclusion in the sequel allows her to have a stronger character arc. Still dealing with the loss of her daughter, the final room that Amanda designs for them is based on her daughter’s room, showing a way that she coped with her loss.

1 Escape Room: Zoey’s Character Arc

As Zoe reconciles with the events of the first movie, she also still struggles with going on airplanes due to the trauma incurred from the plane crash she survived when she was younger. Throughout Tournament Of Champions, Zoe learns to deal with her past.

While by the end of Tournament of Champions it feels like Zoe is finally able to take on Minos head-on, her character arc is very similar to her story in the first film and feels like something viewers have already seem before.

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