Escape From L.A. Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Escape From L.A.
Year:1996
Director: John Carpenter
Country: US
Language: English

More of a remake of Escape from New York than a sequel, Escape from L.A. represents director John Carpenter at his most venemous. It is a contemptuous film, where he lashes out against everyone from studio execs to Disneyland, from the American President to the plastic surgery-addicted culture of Los Angeles. It sacrifices originality & technical mastery in order to send a direct message to Hollywood, which is delivered through various episodes within a post apocalyptic L.A. 

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. 

A film created out of pure anger and spite, Escape From L.A. marks the first major sign the director was burning out, that the studio struggles and underwhelming reception of his then-recent films had incited him to consider an unofficial retirement. Previous to this release he had made over twenty pictures for the studio, but following it he would only make three. Carpenter grew tired of constantly fighting for his artistic integrity, despising the growing pressure to conform to standard Hollywood blockbusters.

A flop that earned back just over half of its $50 million budget and received primarily negative reviews, it is fairly clear that Carpenter either lost his ability to make a technically great film or just didn't care enough to try. The visuals are a let down, as the CGI is horrendous for 1996. The cinematography isn't innovative or interesting, we have seen similar shots in every other B-movie ever made. It looks like a production that could have been made for 20x less.

Setting aside the presentation, Carpenter's film is a worthwhile venture because of what it has to say about the system he was trying to (no pun intended) escape. It certainly isn't as entertaining as the his previous cult classic Escape From New York, but I do admire it for being passionately anti-American.