John Carpenter's Escape from LA

[felix]

My first thought was "Why did they just re-copy so many of the scenes from the first film? Was Carpenter fresh out of ideas?"

But strangely enough the film does improve upon second or third viewing.

1) The "I have to Pray!" President.
2) Valeria Golino's speech
3) The "I need a Cigarette" ending.

Not Classic Carpenter. But not too bad. You just have to give it a second chance.

[Phil]

Nope, still not good.

Originally Posted by Phil

What's a film to which you keep giving another chance, hoping that time or distance or diminished expectations will allow the film to rise in your estimation, only to be let down over and over again?

The film that keeps on hurting me is Escape From L.A. Maybe it's that, on paper, it seemed like such a home run: Kurt Russell, Steve Buscemi, Stacy Keach, Cliff Robertson, Bruce Campbell, Pam Grier and Peter Fonda! It seemed like it would be a b-movie slam dunk. Maybe it's that the first one wasn't ever that great, and I'm all Goonied up about it? (I'm unwilling to accept this scenario.)

No matter how many times I give it a shot, it starts strong - Jamie Lee Curtis narration setup, evangelist president, earthquake footage, Plissken intro, all gold - but it goes downhill right around the Schumacherian "Snake dresses up in straps and leather" scene and never comes back.

I keep thinking "maybe if the goofy western score was ditched, maybe if the cgi submarine sequence was better, maybe if that goddamn surfing scene wasn't in it"...but if you take those out, you're still left with a too-on-the-nose, plasticized remake of the first film. It's a mess. And I still watch it from time to time.

And I still want them to do Escape From Earth.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by felix natalya

But strangely enough the film does improve upon second or third viewing.

No it doesn't.

[Judas Booth]

I must concur with Jake and Phil on this one. It's like John Carpenter had an idea for an even better way to end 'Escape From New York', so he just decided to remake the entire film and add the new 'and improved' ending to it; however, the beats are all wrong and the acting is disinterested (at best) and awful (at worst). The special effects are laughably bad; EFNY's effects may be dated, but they still come off better than the garbage that we're subjected to in EFLA.

Yep, it has a great ending. So what?

[soylentgreen]

For all the film's flaws and they are, sad to say, legion, I just can't not like Stacy Keach in this. Along with being a sucker for the prologue, basketball game and the ending, it's really why I coughed up the 5 bucks for the (decidely un-anamorphic...fuck you, Paramount!) dvd.

[wadew1]

Here's what I always say about this movie:
I WANT A RUSSELL/CARPENTER COMMENTARY!

[Litmus Configuration]

I remember Carpenter's wife posting on some movie message board about how cute it was that John kept falling asleep on set. Yeah. Real cute.

[Andre Dellamorte]

I hated this movie the first time I saw it, but then I got it, and though the CGI is terrible, I love the basketball sequence, etc. You might argue the first film was gritty and dark, and all that, and they ruined it here, but I think both films traffic in abusrdities.

[Phil]

Ugh. You "got" it. The filmmakers cracked their spines making sure everyone "got" it; that's part of why the movie sucks. There's some kind of observer effect at play in the sequel, where the movie spends its entire running time letting you know how in on the joke it is. Playing the goofiness straight in the original makes it palatable.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by Phil

Ugh. You "got" it. The filmmakers cracked their spines making sure everyone "got" it; that's part of why the movie sucks. There's some kind of observer effect at play in the sequel, where the movie spends its entire running time letting you know how in on the joke it is. Playing the goofiness straight in the original makes it palatable.

Agreed. Whereas the goofiness worked in the original's favor, the sequel just seemed to be trying way, way too hard. "REMEMBER THIS FROM THE FIRST MOVIE WHAT ABOUT THIS HOLY SHIT AND THIS ISN'T THIS BETTER DON'T YOU LIKE IT MORE?!?!" It's like the coked-up guy I used to work with trying to get me all amped up about Coldplay - I ended up disliking the end product more than I would have in the first place due to the amount of effort wasted trying to get me into it.

[Humanoid]

I can't recall most of the details, but I remember thinking that LA was an almost identical remake of New York. The ending was pretty funny though.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by Humanoid

I can't recall most of the details, but I remember thinking that LA was an almost identical remake of New York. The ending was pretty funny though.

It was. Oh wait, no, there was surfin' Fonda and Beverly Hills Surgeon General Bruce Campbell! Original! Striking!

[Andre Dellamorte]

"You may have survived Cleveland, you may have escaped from New York, but this is LA, Puto, this town can kill anyone."

[Jake]

Originally Posted by Andre Dellamorte

"You may have survived Cleveland, you may have escaped from New York, but this is LA, Puto, this town can kill anyone."

Confession: I kinda like that line.

[Humanoid]

Originally Posted by Jake

It was. Oh wait, no, there was surfin' Fonda and Beverly Hills Surgeon General Bruce Campbell! Original! Striking!

And the CG shark... never forget the CG shark!

[Bradito]

I still want to see "Escape from Cleveland."

[Phil]

omg it totly skewers los angeles!

[wadew1]

Puto

VATO!

And the movie is really lazy, but I like some of the absurd stuff Carpenter threw in there (greenscreen surfing with peter fonda, basketball death game, hangliding into disneyworld with machineguns, etc)

[Rene (Mr.Eko)]

It's a copy of Escape From New York, but I still like it a lot. I especially love the "horror scene" where they confront Bruce Campbell as the Surgeon General Of Beverly Hills. "My God they're real!"

[Andre Dellamorte]

Yeah, it's maximum stupid. I got what I wanted out of it.

[Dr Syn]

Originally Posted by Humanoid

And the CG shark... never forget the CG shark!

Never Forget!

[alexc.]

If they made them, I'd watch 10 variations on that same story with Russell. I assume the same exact thing happens to Snake every few years in a different city, like the Olympics.

[Cylon Baby]

Yeesh Saw this in the theater with my dad and brother (we saw EFNY in the theater as well). All three of us hated it. Never felt the need to revisit it

And what's so great about the basketball scene? It's just Snake having to dunk baskets or he gets killed, right? That's a far cry from the death match with the Killer Wrestler from the first movie

[Andre Dellamorte]

It's incredibly stupid. Again, I think both films are a reflection of their towns. I would put this on and watch it right now if I hadn't sold it in anticipation of the Blu-ray. These are the same guys who made Big Trouble in Little China. I get a lot of that vibe from it. Snake Plisken was always a caricature of the man with no name. It may be more over the top, but whatever.

[Nabster]

I've never seen this film, but your guys discussion intrigues me, Cg sharks, surfing, Kurt dunking to save his life? Surely as bad as it maybe, it's also watchable? So I'll check it out.

[Phil]

But even Big Trouble isn't as self-aware as Escape From LA. (They Live comes closer, but it's still a different story.) It's that broad, obvious nudge-nudge-ness of EFLA that kills it for me.

[Litmus Configuration]

ESCAPE FROM L.A. has the stench of the Post-Tarantino/Smith/Rodriguez world on it. It's trying to be clever, inside and rock 'n' roll with a heavy dose of geek chic. Bruce Campbell, Peter Fonda, Steve Buscemi...all appearing in the world of Snake Plissken? it's like a video store clerk's wet dream. And that's the problem. It should have been an ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK fan's wet dream. That's what I was hoping for, anyway. Not a tired retread desperate to be hip (circa 1996.)

GREMLINS 2 is how you intelligently parody your previous film. ESCAPE FROM L.A. is how you shit all over it.

[Graham]

Wasn't the shark originally from the Universal Studios 'ride'...and isn't it still?
The original script had it in.

...and, fuck it, I'd rather see 'Escape from Detroit'.

[Ratty]

I consider Doomsday a better sequel to New York than L.A.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by Ratty

I consider Doomsday a better sequel to New York than L.A.

This is the correct response.

[Judas Booth]

Refresh my memory: did EFLA ever address the ramifications of Snake destroying the audio tape in the ending to EFNY?

[Phil]

No. It barely mentions the events of the first film. Which is fine.

[Renn Brown]

Fuck anyone who tries to logically add value to this movie. I wish to remain blindly irrational in my hatred for it, thank you very much.

[Judas Booth]

Originally Posted by Phil

No. It barely mentions the events of the first film. Which is fine.

Then 'Escape from Earth' probably would have ignored the ending to EFLA or written it off in a voice over stating that underground backup generators saved the planet. Fuck this movie indeed.

[Fat Elvis]

Considering everything that's come from Carpenter since, dontcha think we can forgive Escape for being a rehash/parody? At least it was fun, the last time JC pulled that off. Kurt Russell in Snake mode, even slightly silly Snake mode, makes up for alot. (Movie wins me over with Peter Fonda alone!) Like T3, the ending deserved a better movie, but still pretty great.


Best thing that came from it though, was HAM's (I think) post back in the day about "escaping" with the Snake Plissken lobby display. Remember cracking up over that.

[Humanoid]

Originally Posted by Graham

Wasn't the shark originally from the Universal Studios 'ride'...and isn't it still?

Feast your eyes!

[Jake]

The justifications for this movie make me feel like I'm reading a Transformers 2 thread on Superherohype. The scene with Peter Fonda? Really?

[Keith F]

I suppose I won't start that revisionist take on GHOST OF MARS thread, then. I'll spare you, Jake.

[Marlowe's Cat]

On the commentary for EFNY, I seem to remember Kurt Russell and John Carpenter briefly mentioning EFLA in a positive light -- something to the effect of "It's the same, but different" and how the fans "got it." I'm of course paraphrasing and possibly misremembering slightly, but it amused me. I'm thinking, "No, Escape from LA is just a bad movie, guys."

Like Phil, I'd still watch Escape from Earth though...

[Bancroft Agee]

The only thing that works for me (and this is minor) is Cliff Robertson because he's essentially playing Joe Cantwell.

So bascially I can get through Escape from L.A. by imagining it as a quasi-sequel to The Best Man; which works better than watching it as an actual sequel to Escape from New York. Hell, it even has a Fonda in it! My thesis is proven!

[Francis Wolcott]

I seem to have no problem enjoying, deeply enjoying, this movie and yet I find myself pretty much agreeing or, at least not refuting, any of the criticism levelled aganst it. Talk about cognitive dissonace