Product Description

Kurt russell returns as outlaw hero snake plissken in this thrill-a-minute sequel to the hit futuristic adventure escape from new york. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/03/2006 Starring: Kurt Russell Stacy Keach Run time: 101 minutes Rating: R Director: John Carpenter

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9653 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• 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

A Cheesy Sequel To Escape From N.Y.
ESCAPE FROM L.A. is a so-so movie, but was kind of a cheesy sequel to John Carpenter's ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, even though ESCAPE FROM LA was more upgraded with more technology than ESCAPE FROM N.Y. was, plus ESCAPE FROM L.A. was less convincing than ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK was too.

In addition, something that didn't make a lot of sense to me in this movie was when one of the thugs is protesting at the L.A. Coliseum, he says "You may have been able to escape New York, but you wont be able to escape from LA", because I think New York City would actually be harder to escape from than Los Angeles would, since New York City is bigger, more congested, more overcrowded, and less concerned about crime than L.A. is along with the fact that LA is like heaven compared to New York City.

Therefore, having to accomplish a mission in L.A. would seem more like a downgrade of having to accomplish a mission in New York City, since things are usually quite a bit more challenging in New York City than they are in LA, despite the fact that it was kind of interesting seeing Snake Plisskin(Kurt Russell) go from being on the East Coast to the West Coast, plus it was kind of neat seeing them showing all those nice and interesting suburbs in the L.A. Area like Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Downtown L.A., Chinatown, etc., but ESCAPE FROM LA still wasn't as impressive or as significant as ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK was.

What I don't understand is why did John Carpenter or Paramount took 15 years to make a sequel to ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK.

A GREAT CULT CLASSIC MOVIE!
This movie follows Escape from New York, and it's just great. It's not meant to be taken too seriously. There are subtle jokes throughout the movie. A lot of it is tongue in cheek. So enjoy it for what it is. My favorite line is "This is LA, and this ****ing city can kill anyone!" There will be no Oscars, no awards given out for this movie... it's just mindless entertainment. You can tell Kurt Russell is having fun with the character. The whole movie is "over the top" and that's the point. Loads of fun, provided you don't take the movie, or yourself, too seriously. So lighten up, sit back, and enjoy!

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.