Review of Escape from New York (1981) by Spencer S — 18 Nov 2014

John Carpenter makes action-adventure sci-fi films that use small budget resources to create fantastical and unparallel worlds. In this dystopian future (which isn't overtly stated, but it must be seeing as Manhattan is a prison island) Snake Plissken, a merchant of fortune finally caught by the US government, must save the PUSA from the wrath of exiled prisoners.

While this setting doesn't make much sense, and a lot about our characters isn't revealed to us throughout the course of the film, we as the audience only need to know what Snake plans to do next, and how he will escape the island.

Isaac Hayes as the villain was perfect casting, Adrienne Barbeau plays a steely and hard headed woman who protects her man, and Kurt Russell gives a performance that is over the top in the extreme, and yet he still comes off as the underdog.

The film makes a case for empathy from our society, and a denouncement of the prison system, but does so while Ernest Borgnine throws Molotov cocktails, and Kurt Russell gets grabbed through the floor by insane subway marauders.

It's a mixed bag of the best in weird and schlocky but is presented in the best possible way, something Carpenter has replicated in all his films.