Story Plot

Jailbreak is a 2025 American prison action film written and directed by John McTiernan. Zack Snyder and Jerry Bruckheimer served as producers. The film stars Sasha Calle along with Colin Farrell, Michael Shannon, Angela Bassett, Billy Crudup, Forest Whitaker, Sterling K. Brown, Russell Crowe, Michael Keaton, and Alec Baldwin. It follows a young mercenary who is paid to be arrested in order to break an innocent man out of prison, only to realize that she has been betrayed. Despite this, she still decides to do the right thing and proceed with her plans, even as they are hindered by the cruel warden. Jailbreak opened in theaters on February 18th, 2025; the film received critical acclaim, with praise for its action sequences, visual style, and Calle's performance; many have deemed the film to be one of the best of her career. It was also a box-office success, grossing $983 million worldwide against a budget of $139 million. The film became one the first prison film to win all five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Score for Hans Zimmer, while Calle was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. A sequel was announced and is slated for release two years later.

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  • The Following Content is Rated "R": Contains Foul Language, Gritty Images, Mildly Sexual Situations, Dark Themes, Use of Drugs and Alcohol, and Graphic Violence. Viewer's Discretion Advised!
  • Plot: Elena Diaz is a mercenary-for-hire who often goes on jailbreaking jobs no matter the price; she made her career choice for a personal reason.
  • Wealthy businessman William Falcone offers to pay Elena a fortune of money for breaking Ethan Ford, an innocent man, out of a prison infamously named HMP Iron Gate. She accepts because she wants both the money and to "do the right thing." However, she regrets part of her decision when she realizes that Falcone has betrayed her, as he did to many other mercenaries-for-hire. She is taken to Iron Gate and receives a warm welcome from Ethan himself and his best friend Connor Moss, but a criminally flirtatious welcome from the other prisoners. One inmate tries to rape her, but she breaks his arm and slices off his testicles, threatening to do the same to every other inmate that have taken an interest in her if they try a similar attempt; this earns her respect from Ethan and Connor, as well as the few honest guards including James Evans, while it causes the other inmates and guards to fear her.
  • Elena reveals her true intentions in the prison to Ethan and Connor, who both eventually agree to a jailbreak. However, they also warn Elena that the cruel warden, Robert Creed, is extremely intelligent and will eventually find out that an escape is happening. She admits that even though she will proceed with her plan, her client has set her up, and that this betrayal has complicated her mission. She vows to kill Falcone after the jailbreak.
  • After saving James from an inmate who held him at gunpoint, Elena gains his trust and friendship, and is granted both overseer duties and the title "prisoner of trust." James deduces the jailbreak plans and reveals that he dislikes Creed for his corruption; he agrees to help them as he knows Ethan and Connor are innocent. James asks Elena why she became a mercenary; she replies " My husband was a mercenary who was eventually murdered in front of me... I miss that stubborn f--ker." She reveals that her husband's murder motivated her to become the efficient mercenary she is.
  • Edward Reed, a corrupt guard loyal to the warden, eavesdrops on them and attempts to sound the alarm, but James catches up to him and breaks his neck; he frames the prisoner who tried to rape Elena as the man who orchestrated the killing, and the inmate is put on death row. During her overseer duties, Elena is confronted by Creed, who seemingly kills her. However, when she is buried, Ethan secretly reveals to James that the body is a dummy, indicating that Elena is still alive and will now be incognito upon the escape.
  • Creed, who has deduced the jailbreak plans, confronts the group, only for Elena to reappear and kill the guards behind him, saving him for last. Telling the group to run and hide, Elena fights the warden alone in a violent gunfight; Creed overpowers her and impales her abdomen, but she survives and reveals that she let him stab her. She then subsequently shoots him twice, fatally, before he reveals himself as the man who not only framed Ethan, but the man who killed Elena's husband. She then shoots him in his head as vengeance for her husband. Upon reaching the river next to the prison, Elena refuses to go with the group, as she decides she must do "one last thing...", and she bids an emotional farewell to Ethan. James takes Ethan and Connor away at Elena's behest, while Elena herself sneaks inside the warden's office with Creed's audio recorder, which was turned off upon his death. She leaves his dragged body there with a paper written down demanding the truth to be revealed to the authorities.
  • In the aftermath, Elena and Ethan's lawyers Collette Evermore and Paul Coleman, as well as prosecutor Martin, are given the evidence, and Ethan and Connor are exonerated. Two years later, Elena narrates, saying that she never saw Ethan and Connor again after escaping Iron Gate. While on a vacation in Hawaii, she is spending time with her daughter and son on a Sunseeker Yacht; to her surprise and joy, she spots Ethan on a beach with a beautiful woman, and the silently acknowledge each other before the end credits roll.
  • End Credits: Written and Directed by John McTiernan | Produced by Zack Snyder and Jerry Bruckheimer | Executive Producer: Frank Darabont | Executive Producer: Ridley Scott | Executive Producer: Chad Stahelski | Edited by Kirk M. Morri and James Wan | Cinematography by Zack Snyder and Michael Seresin | Costumes Designed by Michael Wilkinson | Visual Effects by John Knoll | Choreography by Rob Marshall | Music by Hans Zimmer | Casting by Carmen Cuba | Sasha Calle | Colin Farrell | Michael Shannon | Angela Bassett | Billy Crudup | Forest Whitaker | Sterling K. Brown | Russell Crowe | with Michael Keaton | and Alec Baldwin | JAILBREAK
  • Cast: Sasha Calle as Elena Diaz | Russell Crowe as James Evans | Alec Baldwin as William Falcone | Colin Farrell as Ethan Ford | Michael Shannon as Robert Creed | Angela Bassett as Collette Evermore | Billy Crudup as Connor Moss | Forest Whitaker as Martin | Sterling K. Brown as Edward Reed | Michael Keaton as Paul Coleman

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