Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6451 in DVD
• Released on: 1998-12-15
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 101 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Kurt Russell reprises his role as Snake Plissken, of the near-future thriller Escape from New York, in this reworking of that film's basic premise. Instead of New York being a maximum-security prison, this time it's L.A., which through the agency of earthquakes has become an island of the damned. This penal colony is where the film's future rulers, something very like the Moral Majority, send those deemed guilty of "moral crimes." But something has gone wrong in this new moral order, because the President's daughter has absconded to L.A. with a detonation device, and Snake is commandeered to retrieve it. The film's dark dystopia, with its satrical elements taking aim at our dwindling freedoms, and the eclipsing of democracy by narrow interests, are more the subject this time. As a result the action suffers, and the plot devices are sometimes weak and predictable. But just below the surface there is a coiled Snake ready to strike. Steve Buscemi's performance as a weasely hawker of L.A. tour maps is a standout, and the presence of Peter Fonda and Pam Grier adds to the fun. In fact, just the sight of Fonda surfing down the flooded corridor of Sunset Boulevard is reason enough to check this movie out. --Jim Gay

Customer Reviews

You cannot review this...
OK, this isn't Citizen Kane, you put this in and turn your brain off and giggle... I would be shocked if John Carpenter took this movie seriously... it's just not something I can wrap my brain around.


Anyway, it's a really fun movie, so bad its great.

Escape From L.A.
still enjoy this movie. it's one of those that need's to be in your collection if you like kurk russell

Land Of The Free
Snake: Got a smoke? Malloy: America is a no smoking nation, no smoking, no drinking, no foul language, no sex unless your married, no red meat. Snake: Land of the free.

There's not much new about Escape From LA, compared to its predecessor. It's pretty much the same story, set in a different place, and Kurt Russell once more in a race against the clock, in order to rescue a black box from the president's daughter.

This time, 2013, the prison is LA, after being separated from mainland by major earthquakes, and still suffering from the aftershocks. The president's daughter hijacks Air Force 3, and crash lands in LA, away from the restraints of daddy, and free to do what she wants. Which is get in with the wrong crowd and not wear very much. Of course, Snake is back and instantly recognisable to everyone, after his escapades in New York, and he has to be the one to go into LA.

Of course, there are a few similarities to the first movie: he gets a time limit on his life to get the mission done, the vehicle that he uses to get to the island is destroyed, the girl he briefly meets is killed, and he has to play a game to survive. Sure there's nothing new, but Kurt manages to pull it off.

The supporting cast, alongside Kurt, is excellent. Steve Buscemi, playing his usual eccentric character, Pam Grier, Michelle Forbes (who I knew from Kalifornia), Valeria Golino, and a shockingly different Bruce Campbell, were all excellent. Bruce Campbell I luckily managed to spot - he's not recognisable, a lot of prosthetics, but the chin is impossible to disguise!

Why was there never a third movie made? After the ending Escape From LA was given? Hell yeah, there should have been another movie made. Escape From Earth has been batted around for many years since this was made, but it's never been made up until ... soon hopefully. With Stallone coming back for Rocky & Rambo, and Ford coming back for another Indiana Jones, why not revisit this once more? The finale just left too many things hanging. It's a necessity. Hey, I think Kurt could still fit into that outfit. And get the hair long again. Easy. Do IT!!!