Review of Escape from New York (1981) by Matthew K — 12 Jun 2009

Though not nearly as amazing as its rabid fan base would have you believe, Escape from New York isn't terrible either. In fact, it was way ahead of its time.

Which is actually where the criticism comes in. The movie is much too short for all the content they tried to cram into it. Snake (the protagonist, if you didn't know that...) moves from one problem to the next with little to no transition. Earlier threats just disappear as quickly as they attack him. Which is a shame, there's a lot of depth somewhere in this flick.

The story itself is decently original, and the fact they mix action with horror (if you can call it that) was something not seen very often. Of course it has total 80s cheese, which manages to be this movie's biggest problem: it hasn't aged well at all. Yes, it was way ahead of its time, but using the tech and ideas then made it age incredibly poorly.

If I was actually alive when this was first released, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more. Unfortunately for me, I saw it near two decades later. Asking myself why 1997 was the year of choice... but, whatever.

Of course its fun to watch, but it just feels old. I'm normally against remakes or reboots, but the one they're working on for this movie doesn't offend me nearly as much, because as I said, it just hasn't aged very well.

Props to John Carpenter saving some cash and writing the music himself. Negate those props for him using a freaking keyboard to do it all. Too bad too, as the music was kinda catchy... it was just sad sounding. Epic idea of a story, bored-kid-in-his-garage sounding music.