Escape from the Outland
用武之地
China, 2025, colour, 2.35:1, 129 mins.
Director: Shen Ao 申奥.
Rating: 7/10.
Hostage drama, set in an unstable North African country, is well mounted but let down by an unsympathetic lead and various script problems.
STORY
Uleir, a former French colony in North Africa, 13 Jul, the present day. After centuries-long conflict between the Africa-descended Banzemians and Arab-descended Turabians, the situation has finally stablisied since the Banzemin government came to power, backed by F Country; but the Turabians, encouraged by western countries, have formed the militant fundamentalist Iron Army to force the government to recognise their 2,000 square kilometres south of Mampato. In the town of Vaksa, near to Mampato and about 200 kilometres from the capital, the Iron Army launches a terrorist attack while an Italian football scout (Diego Dati) is watching some schoolboys play. Many children are killed, as well as mayor Macky Sassou (Luc Bendza). Meanwhile, in the capital, Pan Wenjia (Qi Xi), a volunteer doctor from China who is also five months pregnant, is leaving her hospital job after two years in order to return home the next day with her husband, Ma Xiao (Xiao Yang), a reporter for the Xintong News Agency. Ma Xiao has just learned from a Chinese colleague, Tian (Pan Binlong), that he’ll be laid off when he gets back, but he has yet to tell Pan Wenjia. In their car the two get caught up in a political demonstration which Ma Xiao, hungry for a big story that will make him famous, insists on photographing; in the chaos he bumps into a suicide bomber (Marouane Maghraoui) who’s then arrested. He then covers a story about his friend Miao Feng (Zheng Kai), an engineer who works for Zhongxun Communications, a Chinese company that brought the internet to Uleir. When Miao Feng has to leave to repair a base station in Vaksa, Ma Xiao and Pan Wenjia also join him, with their driver Hasan (Abdillahi Moumin Awale), as it’s only a two-hour drive away. Just before they arrive at the base station, Pan Wenjia helps some injured refugees fleeing the Iron Army and goes back with them and Hasan to her hospital in the capital. Ma Xiao and Miao Feng go on o the base station, which has been completely destroyed. Meanwhile, the bus with Pan Wenjia and the wounded is ambushed by the Iron Army; only she and three others survive. Later, Ma Xiao and Miao Feng are kidnapped and held in an underground room, with a ransom price of US$20,000. The Third Day 第3天. Ma Xiao and Miao Feng finally escape from the room, only to find they were actually kidnapped by villagers led by an elder, Latif (Fathi Anouar Ghammam), trying to raise money for a prosthetic leg for his young daughter Nadia (Ella Chabbah), who was injured by a landmine. Promising to send him the money later, Ma Xiao and Miao Feng take Latif’s car but soon run low on fuel. While trying to take petrol from some ambushed cars, Miao Feng is seriously injured by a landmine and dies by the time Ma Xiao has driven back to the village for help. As the bridge in nearby Mamputo has been destroyed by the terrorists, thus cutting off the only road to the capital, Latif agrees to help Ma Xiao drive through the mountains but first gets the villagers to compile a detailed map of where all the landmines are – a long and slow process done by memory. The 10th Day 第10天. Meanwhile, Ma Xiao shows the villagers how to grow tomatoes in the arid desert climate, using a video made by Miao Feng to grow his own. The 45th Day 第45天. Ma Xiao and Latif go to a local market to hopefully buy some petrol. Ma Xiao comes across a stateless Chinese, Zhou Weijie (Ren Dahua), who’s lived in Uleir since the age of five and has survived by doing business with anyone, including Turabians. Their meeting is interrupted by government forces hunting down the Iron Army; the latter grab Zhou Weijie, thinking he betrayed them, while Ma Xiao and Latif escape back to the village. The 50th Day 第50天. Ma Xiao tries to steal a car from a neighbouring village but ends up captured by Iron Army troops led by Said Mahlout (Mouad Makhrobi) and imprisoned with other foreign hostages, including Zhou Wenjie. The 55th Day 第55天. Ma Xiao finally realises his wife, working as a nurse, is among the 20 or so foreign hostages, but for their own safety they pretend not to recognise each other. Each hostage has a ransom price of US$5 million. As the group crosses the desert, hunted by government forces, Said Mahlout continuously taunts them. The 70th Day 第70天. They finally reach a large gold-mining encampment run by Turabians with prisoner labour and overseen by ruthless Iron Army leader Hassoud (Youness Benzakour). By now Pan Wenjia is heavily pregnant but she and Ma Xiao only communicate secretly. In the capital, the Chinese embassy decides it cannot – due to the large number of Chinese in the country – set a precedent by paying the ransom; instead it helps the government to effect a rescue of the hostages. But then, just prior to the attack, Said Mahlout discovers Ma Xiao and Pan Wenjia are husband and wife.
REVIEW
Supposedly “adapted from a true story” (per the end credits), Escape from the Outland 用武之地 falls securely into the mini-genre of action dramas projecting China as a force for good in Africa, whether as a UN peacekeeper (Peacekeeping Force 中国蓝盔, 2018; Formed Police Unit 维和防暴队, 2024) or otherwise (Wolf Warrior II 战狼II, 2017; Operation Red Sea 红海行动, 2018). Centred on a news agency reporter and a volunteer doctor who end up being held hostage by anti-government forces in a fictional North African country, it’s well staged by Jilin-born film-maker Shen Ao 申奥, 39, and not as flag-waving as it could be, but is let down by the lead casting of sad-faced comedian Xiao Yang 肖央, 46, who again (e.g. Love Is Hard 情圣3, 2025) exudes zero presence in a role that’s hardly sympathetic to start with. Released on New Year’s Eve 2025, it ended up taking a meh RMB71 million, Shen’s lowest grosser of his four features to date and almost nothing compared with his two blockbusters, scamming-centre drama No More Bets 孤注一掷 (2023, RMB3.85 billion) and Nanjing Massacre drama Dead to Rights 南京照相馆 (2025, RMB2.99 billion).
The film was actually shot between No More Bets and Dead to Rights – largely in Morocco, from Jul 2024, as well as Ningxia province, northwest China, a favourite location for Mainland films needing deserts. Reportedly, IMAX cameras were used during production, and the film – under d.p. Zhong Rui 钟锐 who shot Shen’s impressive first feature, the black rom-com My Dear Liar 受益人 (2019) – still looks fabulous in a standard widescreen ratio. The film’s general air of realism, which extends to some visceral violence and unexpected developments, is much helped by the Morocco location shooting, as well as action staging by Yao Xingxing 姚星星 that’s generally believable (though the first major action doesn’t come until 80 minutes into the movie).
Xiao plays foreign correspondent Ma Xiao, who’s due to fly home from his posting in the troubled African country of “Ulier” in a day’s time, along with his wife, volunteer doctor Pan Wenjia (Qi Xi 齐溪), who’s also five months pregnant with their first child. He’s just learned (but hasn’t told his wife yet) that he’ll be laid off when he gets home; this only makes him even more desperate to hook a big story and fulfil his over-riding ambition to become famous. When a Chinese pal (Zheng Kai 郑恺) who helped install the country’s internet system has to urgently repair a base station a couple of hours’ drive away, Ma Xiao, sensing a possible story, goes with him, as does his wife; they soon end up kidnapped by terrorists, along with other foreigners.
Though it’s made clear at the start that the Arab-descended “terrorists” are encouraged by the West (really?!), and that the African-descended government is supported by China – which has large numbers of workers in the country – the film doen’t get caught up in politics, beyond portraying the “terrorist” Iron Army as ruthless Islamic fundamentalists. There’s even a brief moment where the film pokes good-natured fun at locals hurrah-ing Chinese investment and infrastructure. Instead, it tries to focus on the personal and emotional cost to its two leads of being held hostage – initially seen as a good story by Ma Xiao (who annoyingly tries to video everything on his phone) but later as an experience that he and his heavily pregnant wife may not survive. (The film’s Chinese title is a four-character phrase roughly meaning “A Place to Prove One’s Abilities”.)
Unfortunately, the screenplay, co-written by Shen regular Xu Luyang 许渌洋, doesn’t measure up to its obvious aims and is rarely as emotionally engaging as it needed to be. There’s little chemistry between husband and wife – with the latter, played by Qi, 41, an actress who doesn’t get as many good roles as she deserves, clearly thinking her husband is an opportunist – and much of the surrounding story is stolen by a strong supporting cast, including Zheng in the early stages, as a sharp, witty engineer pal, and Hong Kong veteran Ren Dahua 任达华 [Simon Yam] later on, as a stateless, crafty businessman who’ll trade with any side for money. French-Tunisian actor Fathi Anouar Ghammam, 51, delivers a likeable performance as an unbelievably benign village elder who befriends Ma Xiao. The film does belatedly deliver some emotion near the end, but its final minutes are very icky and self-congratulatory.
The overall look is expensive (on a reported budget of around RMB100 million), with strong contributions by everyone behind the camera. Some 15 minutes could profitably be shaved off the running time, mostly from the second half which often dawdles dramatically after a tight first hour. Dialogue is a mixture of Mandarin, English, French and Arabic, with the English and French handled with varying degrees of success by the Chinese cast.
CREDITS
Presented by Shanghai Dirty Monkeys Studio (CN), CMC Pictures (Shanghai) (CN), Wanda Pictures (CN), China Film Group (CN), Yuuye (Shanghai) Media (CN), Xinjiang Bona Runze Cultural Media (CN), Beijing Super Lion Culture Group (CN), Sichuan Super Lion Film (CN), Beijing Jingxi Culture & Tourism (CN), Horgos Excuse Me Film (CN), Beijing CMC Pictures Grandvision (CN).
Script: Shen Ao, Xu Luyang. Original story: Wang Ke. Photography: Zhong Rui. Editing: Jiang Yijun, Shen Ao. Music: Deng Ouge. Art direction: Du Guangyu. Styling: Liu Jing. Costumes: Wang Lin. Sound: Lin Siyu. Action: Yao Xingxing. Car stunts: Zhang Lijun. Visual effects: Li Tao. Second-unit direction: Ge Rongyun. Executive direction: Wang Zhun.
Cast: Xiao Yang (Ma Xiao), Qi Xi (Pan Wenjia), Ren Dahua [Simon Yam] (Zhou Weijie), Zheng Kai (Miao Feng), Pan Binlong (Tian), Fathi Anouar Ghammam (Latif), Zhou Le (Wang Ke, Chinese embassy councillor), Yan Dongnan (Gim Jong-hun), Sun Tan (Bak Yeon-heui), Xu Xiangdong (Chen, Chinese ambassador), Sui Yuan (Tian’s cameraman), Lin Siyu (Zhongxun Communications manager), Audrey Ottaviano (Maya), Ella Chabbah (Nadia, Maya and Latif’s daughter), Hasan Abdullah Hasan Alsori Odai (Salim), Abdallah Othman (Cristiano Jr.), Atif Rida (Kundi), Abdillahi Moumin Awale (Hasan, driver), Diego Dati (Roberto Esposito, Italian football scout), Youness Benzakour (Hassoud, Iron Army leader), Mouad Makhrobi (Said Mahlout, Iron Army officer), Luc Bendza (Macky Sassou, Waksa mayor), Marouane Maghraoui (suicide bomber).
Release: China, 31 Dec 2025.