The film stars Owen Wilson, Lake Bell, and Pierce Brosnan, and tells the story of an expat engineer trapped with his family in an unnamed country in Southeast Asia during a violent uprising.

The movie was filmed in Thailand in the Chiang Mai and Lampang tourist-friendly North regions, but to avoid implying that Thailand was the country in question, they used Khmer script from Cambodia, turning it upside down, equally to avoid implying that Cambodia was possibly the country in question.

In an unspecified country in Southeast Asia, the Prime Minister closes a deal with a representative of Cardiff, an American company specializing in water systems.

Seventeen hours earlier, Jack Dwyer, a new Cardiff employee, arrives in the country with his wife Annie and their young daughters Lucy and Briegel "Beeze".

At the airport, they run into British traveller Hammond and his local friend, nicknamed Kenny Rogers, who give the Dwyers a ride to their hotel.

The next morning, Jack leaves the hotel to buy a newspaper and inadvertently finds himself in the middle of a confrontation between armed protesters and riot police.

A rebel soldier then spots Jack, forcing him to quickly climb a fire escape and enter the hotel through a window.

A small group of rebels spot the family and they flee, taking shelter in a Buddhist shrine garden nearby.

The two men then take the Dwyers to a nearby safe house; Hammond reveals he and Kenny secretly work on behalf of the British Government.

During the night, the group is attacked by rebels from a nearby guard tower; Kenny is killed and Hammond is severely wounded.

The two brothers based the script on a near-miss of political upheaval when the Dowdle family were going on a trip to Thailand, in real life.

[11] Later that year, it was reported that Lake Bell had replaced Monaghan, and her character was said to be named Annie Dwyer, described as a beloved woman appearing to have the perfect family life.

[13] Principal photography began on October 31, 2013, with Thai-based production company Living Films facilitating the shoot.

[14] Brosnan joined the crew in December after finishing his work on How to Make Love Like an Englishman, moving to Cambodia where production was held.

The site's critical consensus reads, "No Escape's talented cast and taut B-movie thrills are unfortunately offset by its one-dimensional characters and uncomfortably retrograde worldview.

[22] Toronto Star's Peter Howell questioned the film for its "lack of moral considerations", but overall praised it as being suspenseful and "great entertainment.

"[23] The Washington Post's Stephanie Merry wrote that "every Asian character is either a ruthless murderer or anonymous collateral damage.

[26] After trailers for the film were released a social uproar occurred in Cambodia over the use of upside down Khmer lettering on the police shields.

[27] Sin Chanchaya, director of the Department of Film said that the decision to ban the film had come solely based on the trailer and was also informed that in order to receive permission to shoot in Thailand, where several real coups d'état had just taken place, the production team had to arrange that no scenes would directly identify Thailand as the setting.