“Escalation” (**1/2 out of four) was a relatively gripping action potboiler about a former cop (Chris Mark who looks like a young Jet Li) who goes on a one-man vigilante vendetta to track down his brother’s murderer, leaving the city in chaos and his former officers to try and track him down and also help him. Stylishly done action thriller has enough hard-boiled dialogue and hand-to-hand combat to make it worth watching even though it starts to wear out after a while; Mark’s solid charisma helps to keep it together. Similar in story and context to “Max Payne” but far better than that mess.