Escape from L.A. (1996)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Fresh and Exciting

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Yet, again another cool action sci-fi from the master of genre movies John Carpenter, although its not quite as good as the original it's still a lot of fun and certainly still stands up as a cult classic sequel, the story is pretty much the same as before accept it's L.A. that's now also been sectioned off and the whole island is now a prison, the presidents daughter with the black box has fallen into terrorist hands within the walls of L.A and only one man can save the day, Snake is captured once again and promised a full pardon for the bad things he's been doing between movies, this time around there's plenty more action and shootouts and going underwater, flying, and lots of crazy effects, some of the effects are a tad cheesy but its the mid 90's and they still look cool, the cast has a few more famous faces this time with Steve Buscemi, Valeria Golino, Pam Grier, Bruce Campbell.The costumes and sets are very good and make the dystopian feel of future L.A. completely believable and engrossing to experience. This film is a Sci-fi romp with a little gore and black humor thrown in for good measure, as only John Carpenter can deliver it. The movie itself leaves a lot to be desired. In short,if you're not a Snake fan you probably won't enjoy it.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is once again called in by the United States government to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported.John Carpenter insists that it was Russell's persistence that allowed the film to be made, since "Snake Plissken was a character he loved and wanted to play again".Commercially, the film flopped and critically it was mixed. Roger Ebert gave the film 3 1/2 out of 4 stars (which seems absurd), while Kim Newman of rated it 2/5 stars and wrote, "Apart from a few good characters, this is really not up to scratch in most departments especially the ludicrous plot." Newman is definitely more accurate. This film is far too cheesy to even be associated with the original.Oddly, it seems the film today may be better known for the soundtrack than the movie itself. The soundtrack (which is very edgy, very 90s) stands up twenty years on. The film has gained a bit as far as nostalgia value goes, but few would call it their favorite Kurt Russell or John Carpenter film.

I will just write simple and direct.This movie is great,I have good feeling for HQ Films and this is one of them. Ratings on IMDb and Rotten are totally unfair and absolutely too low. But good movie lovers know this and thats why so much positive reviews. My realization is that if you want to have quality life full of purpose,happiness and fulfillment it is very much important that you stop listen to others,specially so called "top critics",many times I would rather called them "top fools" he he :) But seriously listen to your own heart and I can guarantee to you that your life will be happy,joyful,meaningful and full of love, but if you let others to guide you,same life will be dead,fearful,dark, dull,colorless... I seriously "hate" people who write things like "dont waste your time on this movie" ... I would say this is plain stupid, what is nectar for some will be poison for others and opposite. Of course there are many movie which are really bad, but even when masters like JOhn Carpener made bad movie, this will be still good movie for many. So whole life you have been a sheep guided by others, so you are not in tune with yourself, of course you will made wrong decisions. Learn to trust your instincts and life will be fun, and I guarantee that you will enjoy many movies that either common reviewers or top critics,have rated low ! You will smile cause what was poison for others, was nectar indeed for You !

Exciting and spectacular rescue into Los Angeles destroyed by earthquakes, floods, mudslides, and become a top-security prison . This thrilling picture results to be an inferior sequel to Escape from N.Y. , the latter become a real Cult Movie . It contains mystery , chills , noisy action , thrills , fights , social critical , bits of humor with tongue-in cheek attitude and a weird atmosphere with dark and surprising ending . Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell, he was the only cast member from the original film to appear in the sequel)is once again called in by the United States government (Stacy Keach as officer , Michele Forbes as deputy and Clift Robertson as President) to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported and finds itself under siege by violent gangs . A previous war hero named Snake Plissken gone rebel must execute a daring adventure and bring up a powerful artifact in twenty four hours . Snake must recover it and along the way facing off villains like Cuervo Jones (George Corraface) . He's only helped by a sympathetic rogue underling (Steve Buscemi who took the part in this film to help fund his directorial debut, Trees Lounge) , and action women (Valeria Golino, Pam Grier) . As Snake Plissken to get in and out of Los Angeles . The film is a comic book plenty of action , fun , adventures , suspense , thriller and surprise-filled entertainment . Magnificent plethora of characters with decent performances by its entire cast . Middle-budget by Paramount Pictures , in fact its President Sherry Lansing was a fan of "Escape from New York" and wanted John Carpenter, Kurt Russell and Debra Hill to make the sequel in the same vein as the original. Kurt Russell as tough and valiant renegade is terrific . At the beginning of the film, Kurt Russell wears his costume from the original film, which still fits after 15 years . Kurt Russell not only came up with but wrote the entire ending of the movie , in fact it was the first and only writing credit . Escape From LA was caught in development hell for over ten years . A script for the film was first commissioned in 1985 but John Carpenter thought it "too light, too campy" . An initial script was written , but it remained dormant until Carpenter and Kurt Russell got together with frequent collaborator Debra Hill. It was Russell's persistence that got the film made ; Snake Plissken was his favourite character, a character he loved and wanted to play again . Support cast is frankly good such as Peter Fonda , Cliff Robertson , Valeria Golino , Stacy Keach , Pam Grier , Bruce Campbell , Michelle Forbes , A.J. Langer and Peter Jason , Carpenter's usual . The picture contains an imaginative and memorable production design by Lawrence G. Paull . Colorful and glimmer cinematography by Gary B. Kibbe . John Carpenter also made the atmospheric music score along with Shirley Walker . The movie likely to satisfy action enthusiasts and Kurt Russell fans .Director John Carpenter is in familiar ground with this well-done tale on the style of comic books and old Sci-Fi serials . His films often feature important visuals shown from a video screen , as the end-of-the-world transmission from the future in ¨Prince of darkness¨ (1987), the Norwegian recordings of the expedition to uncover the aliens in ¨The Thing¨ (1982), various TV sets and the general anti-TV motif in ¨They live¨(1988), etc. ¨1997 escape from N.Y¨ was realized during his best period in the 70s and late 8os when he directed classics as ¨Halloween¨, ¨The fog ¨, ¨Christine¨, ¨They live¨ , ¨Big Trouble in Little China¨ and ¨The thing¨ . The sequel ¨Escape from L.A¨ rating : average but entertaining . The movie will enjoy to noisy action fans but packs a roller-coaster thriller and wholesome amusement . The film will appeal to John Carpenter enthusiasts . A third sequel was going to be made titled Escape from Earth which would have had Snake escaping Earth after a dark matter experiment. However, the negative reaction to this film prevented the sequel from being developed. As the movie was a notorious failure on release, making around $25 million , just half its budget , at the US box office. Many reviews criticized the film for being too violent or for being too similar to the original film .