Rating: 
Summary: There should be a special edition DVD for this.
Review: "Escape From L.A." is one of the most interesting movies to come along in a long time. Basically a big budget remake of the first movie under the guise of being a sequel (kinda like "Evil Dead II"), a lot of people thought it sucked when it first came out. But, like other John Carpenter/Kurt Russell collaborations, it found a core audience later on down the line. There are a lot of theories about what "Escape From L.A." is all about: it can be viewed as a straight sequel to "New York", it can be viewed as an attack on government intrusion upon personal freedoms, etc. Personally, I like to think of it as a very subtle satire of the Hollywood machine, where the big studios get their hands on a successful independent flick--like, say, "Escape From New York"--and remake it on a huge budget with mized results. What I'd really love is for this movie to get the "Big Trouble in Little China" DVD treatment. 2 discs, lots of extras, documentaries and such, and obviously commentary by John Carpenter and Kurt Russell. Their commentaries are always amusing and informative. I'm sure a lot of people out there would also be interested in such a reissue. Unfortunately, getting Paramount to do a special edition DVD of anything that isn't "Star Trek" or "Tomb Raider" is like trying to get Marlon Brando to skip the second helpings at dinnertime. After that... Warner's gotta bring out "Elvis". :-)
Rating: 
Summary: First time he was Mad max, now he's Duke Nukem
Review: 'Escape from L.A.' is good mid-90's action fare. In an age where digital effects and Hollywood explosions ruled, this movie was able to compete. Still, it needs to be compared to 'Escape from New York' (which amazon doesn't seem to have for some strange reason) and it falls a little short of it. 'Escape from New York' made up for its mid-range budget by blowing the mind with a good idea, good suspense and good directing. Although John Carpenter was merely sticking Kurt Russell in with actors he'd recycled from earlier pictures, he still managed to pull off a hit. Cashing in on the apocalyptic tomorrowland fad, Carpenter crafted a neat niney minute yarn which paved the way for 'The Terminator' in plot, violence and aura. 'Escape from L.A.' is a good flick in the sense that it was too irresistable a thing not to make as a follow up to the original '81 hit. Russell looks exactly the way he did 14 years before and his one-liners are great. A few quibbles, however: Peter Fonda is too mellow and the comic relief in the pic makes it more a party piece than 'E.f.N.Y.'. There's a lot to laugh at in here: a Che Guevara Underworld lord, a strung-out bimbo daughter of a politician, a trial by basketball (!) and a plethora of ridulous feral elements. Kurt Russell revells in reprising his character and it's good to see him wield the same amount of energy as before. I really wanted to give 4 stars to 'Escape from New York' and 3.5 to 'Escape from L.A.' but I can't give half points so the rating is a 'high' 3 stars for the latter.
Rating:
Summary: A good B-movie ride while it lasts
Review: 15 years after crafting the low budget comic cult classic Escape From New York, director John Carpenter finally got the budget he needed in this sequel/reworking of the original film. Kurt Russell reprises his role as one eyed badass Snake Plisskin as he is dropped into the island of Los Angeles to seek out the president's daughter. Parts of the film seem more aimed to make a social satire of our dwindling freedom, but sometimes the action gets too incoherent and parts of the film seem uneven. Not to mention that there are times when the film feels rushed, like Carpenter just wanted to get the film over with. Either way though, Escape From L.A. is still a fun B-movie ride with a great comic flair, and the great supporting cast which includes Steve Buscemi, Pam Grier, Peter Fonda, Stacy Keach, Cliff Robertson, and B-movie icon Bruce "Evil Dead" Campbell make this one of Carpenter's more decent films of late.
Rating:
Summary: Snake is back!
Review: A major earthquake has separated Los Angeles from the rest of America and the now permanently elected President of the United States (well he did predict it would happen) has turned it into a dumping ground for moral undesirables. So it is no surprise that the recently recaptured Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) has a first class ticket to the island. But yet again the most infamous criminal in America gets a promised reprieve. It turns out the President's daughter has slipped into L.A. to give a doomsday weapon to one of its most dangerous inhabitants. Snake has only ten hours to find it, dispose of the daughter, and bring it back. Then he can go free. Sound familiar? Fans of Escape from New York and/or John Carpenter and Kurt Russell were thrilled when a sequel to one of the pairs beloved cult classics was announced. Sadly no one was overly impressed with the result, Escape from L.A. is decidedly less than its predecessor. More a remake than an actual continuation of the story, it is a movie that walks a very thin line, for L.A. tries to be both a straight forward action picture as well as a satire of the first one. The results are mixed, the action ranges from solid to laughable and the humor from passable to groan inducing. Even sadder is the waste of an excellent cast, unlike the b-list all star cast of the first movie, most of the b-list all stars (Peter Fonda, Bruce Campbell, and Pam Grier) are given very little to work with. In fact Bruce Campbell is utterly wasted as the Surgeon General of Beverly Hills, a plot detour that could have been cut from the movie without anyone the wiser of its absence. Another irony is the lackluster special effects. Escape from L.A. cost about ten times what Escape from New York did, yet the effects look worse. Why is that? Perhaps the budget went more to getting actors to populate its world than build a realistic looking one for them to inhabit. While I do not dislike Escape from L.A., I do consider it one of Carpenter's bigger disappointments. But his more forgiving fans (who seem less and less with each movie) will find something to enjoy in this, I always do.
Rating: 
Summary: There was no "zero" star option
Review: A movie this horrible is not only judged by how much money one wasted, but also how much of your life was taken away forever. I am now dumber for watching it. LED ZEPPELIN RULES!
Rating:
Summary: Why must we give even one star?
Review: Ah, yes. The "take the easy money and run" school of film production. Not that Carpenter (or Russell, for that matter) has ever been confused for an artist, but this sort of money-grubbing is below him. File this under "Just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should." Not so much a sequel as a remake of the original, without any of the charm or the style that made the original so fascinating. It does have a lovely right-wing political message grafted onto the last few minutes. Released fifteen years after the first film (which should give one an initial clue), audiences stayed away in droves. So should you. Run, don't walk, away. The most insulting sequel to the memory of an original film since "The Godfather Part III." There is another question that must be asked- where is the original?
Rating: 
Summary: Another Disappointing Follow-up to a Great Film
Review: Alas, another diappointing sequel to a wonderful film. I wonder sometimes, why writers take a classic character and reviev them into a role that in no way lives up to the original. If this was all they could come up with for a follow-up, they should never have made it! This film takes a well drwn character and gives him a bad name. Come on...Sake don't surf. I gave this film two stars for being a terrible sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Tries to be Witty...
Review: But this one falls flat on its face. Kurt my boy you are over the hill buddy, please juist retire in style so the rest of us can remember your better and more crowd pleasing works(though I'll watch the movie anyway, I love Snake). As for you Carpenter you just TRIED to hard. If you had approached this with more of the attidude of New York you would have done well, but a SURFING SCEAN my God man what were you thinking? And finally I come to Steve, the only shining light in an otherwise dark tunnle. This is your best work since "Airheads" buddy. Basically-A good action film but nowhere near the classic that New York was.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible!!!!!!!!
Review: Don't get me wrong. I like corny movies that are meant to look bad. God bless Troma. First off I know computer effects were not nearly as good as they are now. But, god I know they could had spent a little more time cleaning it up. Effects are sad and down right shameful. But, the most disturbing is that this movie is really no different than the original New York one. Infact its pathetic on how similar the two are. If you're going to write a sequal why waste your time if the two aren't going to be any different? For example, he's infected with a virus so he has to help the government in order to get the cure. There's a guy that drives him around. There's a chick that helps him out. Lets not forget the timer on his arm to let him know how long he has to live. Oh yeah, and the most abvious knock off is that he has to escape from some other island full of rejects and criminals. Sound familiar? It should. It was in the original also. Personally I never really pay attention to what people say about movies till I see it myself. So, if you must see it. Please save yourself the money and rent it or borrow it from some poor soul that actually wasted the money to buy it.
Rating:
Summary: "John Carpenter's Escape from L.A."
Review: Escape from L.A. (R) ..../5
Kurt Russell, Stacey Keach, Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda, George Corraface.
Directed by: John Carpenter.
Synopsis: A famous mercenary must recover something for the president. The one catch is it is in the middle of the prison city of L.A., and in the hands of a maniacal warlord.
Special Features: Trailer.
Review: Snake is infected with a virus and forced to go do three things. One is try to contact the only surviving member of the first rescue team, two recover what the president's daughter stole for a deadly criminal, three is kill the president's rebellious daughter. The only catch is he has got to do it on the prison island of L.A. before the virus kills him. Roger Ebert raved about this film, but it tanked at the box office to bad too. This film is a hyperkinetic retread of the first and shows what Carpenter couldn't in the first. Originally when I saw the film I was upset the country was under an of course psychotic Christian presidents control, but then I realized the criminals world was just as bad. I figured out maybe he is saying we need to meet in the middle, or perhaps I read too much into films. As for acting Russell is once again the ultimate anti-hero in the part that forever shattered his Disney image, and a large supporting cast of zany characters all perform marvelously to make L.A. the place to be. Carpenter's direction is fantastic, and his cockeyed vision that is put on the screen is fantastic. I really loved the sub sequence, Snake suiting up, and the fantastic fight scenes. One of the greatest action films ever conceived. As for the DVD? Only the trailer blast you Paramount!
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