- Joined
- Jan 2, 2007
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- 1,067
It's that time of the week again. That time I walk into a rental store and pick out something random to watch. While strolling down the isles I noticed a familiar face staring out at me from a DVD cover: The character of Snake Plissken. I wondered if the cover I just saw was just a different cover than the one for Escape from New York, or if there really was another movie starring the character. Sure enough, I discovered Escape from L.A. I wonder why I had never heard of it, Escape from New York is one of my favourite action movies and next to "The Thing," one of John Carpenters best. I eagerly checked the disc out and popped it in as soon as I got home.
Ugh... how do I describe Escape from L.A.? Repetitive? Deja-Vu? REMAKE??!? It goes above and beyond to be like the first film, to the point that the plot is just the plot from Escape from New York with a few tweaks and different characters. Tell me if this isn't familiar: L.A. has somehow become an island, and is blocked off by a wall of guards and undesirables are booted out of the US and forced to live in L.A., which becomes a crime ridden hellhole that NO ONE escapes from. Soz Air-Force One is flying over L.A. and while it doesn't drop the president- it drops his daughter. Snake is arrested, given a virus that will kill him in a certain amount of time if he doesn't get out of L.A. without the Macguffin plot device in a set amount of hours, and if he does it he gets out with his life and is given his freedom. Even the villain might as well be The Duke if he were a hippy Che Guevera wannabe.
Escape From L.A., despite taking so much from its predecessor, is missing one important ingredient: Suspense. Suspense was one of the things that made EFNY so fun, it always had you on the edge, especially towards the end. The scene in the first film when Snake only has a few seconds left and has to get the Macguffin plot device before he can get his antidote always puts me on edge, even though I know he lives, its still done well enough to be a nail biting and cool sequence. EFL.A. has no suspense. The one bit of suspense it had going for it was the re-use of a virus that will kill Snake, but all that suspense is removed and the film feels like it was completely wasted when you find out the virus wasn't even dangerous, just a small flu. It also doesn't help that the set pieces are just stupid. They try to be fun, but seem too silly. I actually died a little inside when I saw Snake surfing through a canyon against the worst green screen effects ever. Come on Carpenter- you're smarter than that.
I now know why no one ever talks about Escape from L.A.: It's a crappy movie. While it was fun to see Snake on screen again, and I do admit the ending was funny, the rest of the movie was just a remake of the first film but with everything that made it great replaced with less intriguing things. Some sequels end up being bad by being too different from the original. This sequel is proof that you can screw up even by being too much like the original. It's a watchable film, but it's disappointing and lame.
4.5/10
Ugh... how do I describe Escape from L.A.? Repetitive? Deja-Vu? REMAKE??!? It goes above and beyond to be like the first film, to the point that the plot is just the plot from Escape from New York with a few tweaks and different characters. Tell me if this isn't familiar: L.A. has somehow become an island, and is blocked off by a wall of guards and undesirables are booted out of the US and forced to live in L.A., which becomes a crime ridden hellhole that NO ONE escapes from. Soz Air-Force One is flying over L.A. and while it doesn't drop the president- it drops his daughter. Snake is arrested, given a virus that will kill him in a certain amount of time if he doesn't get out of L.A. without the Macguffin plot device in a set amount of hours, and if he does it he gets out with his life and is given his freedom. Even the villain might as well be The Duke if he were a hippy Che Guevera wannabe.
Escape From L.A., despite taking so much from its predecessor, is missing one important ingredient: Suspense. Suspense was one of the things that made EFNY so fun, it always had you on the edge, especially towards the end. The scene in the first film when Snake only has a few seconds left and has to get the Macguffin plot device before he can get his antidote always puts me on edge, even though I know he lives, its still done well enough to be a nail biting and cool sequence. EFL.A. has no suspense. The one bit of suspense it had going for it was the re-use of a virus that will kill Snake, but all that suspense is removed and the film feels like it was completely wasted when you find out the virus wasn't even dangerous, just a small flu. It also doesn't help that the set pieces are just stupid. They try to be fun, but seem too silly. I actually died a little inside when I saw Snake surfing through a canyon against the worst green screen effects ever. Come on Carpenter- you're smarter than that.
I now know why no one ever talks about Escape from L.A.: It's a crappy movie. While it was fun to see Snake on screen again, and I do admit the ending was funny, the rest of the movie was just a remake of the first film but with everything that made it great replaced with less intriguing things. Some sequels end up being bad by being too different from the original. This sequel is proof that you can screw up even by being too much like the original. It's a watchable film, but it's disappointing and lame.
4.5/10
