Review of Escape from L.A. (1996) by Josh M — 09 Aug 2012

I came close giving this movie 2 and a half stars out of five. But I will give it three. Mainly, I am a fan of Carpenter's work and secondly, despite the messy script and terrible (although) intentional f/x work. The movie still manages to be oddly watchable, mainly because of Russell's performance as Snake Plissken. A character, who was so memorable in One of Carpenter's best movies "Escape from New York".

This is something of a bad movie, mainly because of Russell, Carpenter and Debra Hill goofy dumb script. Still, they manage to make it worth, almost. When I heard, they were making this sequels years ago. I was excited. I was hoping to be as dark as the original but nope. We get here, a remake instead. Almost a parody of the first movie and action movies at that time. Steve Buscemi in a amusing supporting role steals the show, when he is on-screen and he is welcome by it. Almost unrecognized Robert Carradine (Revenge of the Nerds), Issac Hayes and especially Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead Trilogy) have fun in their bit parts as well for Peter Fonda and Pam Grier in a odd role.

The worst scene, which it is still talked about, when Snake and Fonda's character go surfing in the streets of L.A. looks horrible. It was meant to look silly but too bad the CGI effects work ruined the gag. CGI effects in this movie is the low point of this movie. Strangely enough, those who didn't like "Escape from New York" liked this one and those who didn't like this one, hated it or always have mixed opinion like I do. It is a watchable Carpenter movie like the most recent "The Ward". Perphas "Escape from L.A." and "The Ward" are my least favorites from Carpenter. But Carpenter is still one of my favorite filmmakers, I am always looking forward to next work. Just don't make us wait too long after "Ghosts of Mars".