The film exults in its imagination of the greater Los Angeles area as a ruined metropolis, with the Santa Monica Freeway well underwater and the Universal Studios theme park beset by real sharks instead of the Spielberg variety. In the action climax, Disneyland--stripped of its familiar branding following a corporate bankruptcy--is invaded from the skies as Plissken drops in, gun blazing. (It's not the movie of a man who's entirely happy with the machinations of Hollywood studios.) Carpenter later said he wanted the scene to be reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz, which figures. With its aggressively whimsical dream logic, the only way this movie really makes sense is if Snake wakes up in Kansas in the final reel.What's memorable are the film's gaudy visions of excess. Escape from L.A. has a brighter and more colorful look than the resolutely dim Escape from New York, which may have been a deliberate decision to embrace a sunny Southern California palette, though I'm guessing it also had something to do with the presence of cinematographer Gary Kibbe, rather than the wizard Dean Cundey, behind the camera. The friendlier look goes conceptually with the picture's more overtly jokey approach.Escape from L.A. is at least partially model-led on westerns-- Plissken is actually described at one point as a "gunfighter"-Pam Grier plays Hershe--it's pronounced like "Hershey," thus it's an insistent play on race as well as gender. See, Hershe is a trans-woman with hairy 'pits and an uncharacteristically deep voice who used to be a buddy of Snake's known as Carjack Malone. When Snake finds her, he gets in close, runs his hand up her thigh to her crotch and declares, "The more things change, the more they stay the same," before intimidating "Carjack" with the gun he found there. When she insists, "I'm no longer Carjack Malone," he hisses in response, "I don't give a f'ck what you are." Yes, Plissken has story reasons for threatening Hershe. But, absent that greater context, the film plays here exactly as though Snake is threatening a hate crime.The surprisingly character-driven script, too, wouldn't fly today. Rather than focus on elaborate set pieces and action sequences, Carpenter, Hill, and Russell give their actors ample time to talk and double-cross each other.The most satisfying payoff of seeing Escape From L.A. today is in realizing that 1996 imagined 2013 so as to fantasize about regressing.

Escape From L.A. (1996): Dir: John Carpenter / Cast: Kurt Russell, Stacey Keach, Peter Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Steve Buscemi: Crappy excess in filth that rehashes the superior Escape From New York. Here the future Los Angeles 2013 has been separated by an earthquake and anyone who breaks a moral law is sent there. The President sends Snake Plisskin to L.A. to find his daughter, kill her, and retrieve a satellite control box she had. He is injected with a virus, which is another dead steal from the first film. John Carpenter pretty much directs his worst film with this piece of garbage. This is from the same director who made one of the great horror films in Halloween. Kurt Russell reprises his role as Plisskin and appears to be more super human. Stacey Keach plays the stereotypical villain who attempts to render Christianity the bad guy. Peter Fonda has a useless role as a surfer as a bad send off to his Easy Rider performance. Also featured is Cliff Robertson in not one of his best moments. Steve Buscemi plays a character named Map Of The Stars Eddie. If that is the case then perhaps Buscemi should fire his agent. Escape From New York wasn't the best in terms of special effects but it had a genuine futuristic vision and intriguing characters. In this forgettable sequel the special effects are horrible within a film that belonged in a junk yard, preferably burned within a pile of every other existing copy. Score: 0 / 10

At times 'Escape From L.A.' feels more like a parody of 'Escape From New York' than a sequel, and it's clear that Carpenter was going for more of a satire vibe here; A satire of (then) current political culture. A satire of big budget Hollywood action movies. A satire of Southern California culture. The problem is that it overwhelms the entire movie, and everything else feels like an afterthought to his quest to zing his targets.There are still a few worthwhile moments tucked in amongst all of the flotsam and jetsam, and Kurt Russell doesn't miss a beat after a fifteen year absence from the role of Snake Plissken, but it's just not enough to save this well-intended misfire.

Exciting and spectacular rescue into Los Angeles destroyed by earthquakes, floods, mudslides, and become a top-security prison . This thrilling picture results to be an inferior sequel to Escape from N.Y. , the latter become a real Cult Movie . It contains mystery , chills , noisy action , thrills , fights , social critical , bits of humor with tongue-in cheek attitude and a weird atmosphere with dark and surprising ending . Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell, he was the only cast member from the original film to appear in the sequel)is once again called in by the United States government (Stacy Keach as officer , Michele Forbes as deputy and Clift Robertson as President) to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported and finds itself under siege by violent gangs . A previous war hero named Snake Plissken gone rebel must execute a daring adventure and bring up a powerful artifact in twenty four hours . Snake must recover it and along the way facing off villains like Cuervo Jones (George Corraface) . He's only helped by a sympathetic rogue underling (Steve Buscemi who took the part in this film to help fund his directorial debut, Trees Lounge) , and action women (Valeria Golino, Pam Grier) . As Snake Plissken to get in and out of Los Angeles . The film is a comic book plenty of action , fun , adventures , suspense , thriller and surprise-filled entertainment . Magnificent plethora of characters with decent performances by its entire cast . Middle-budget by Paramount Pictures , in fact its President Sherry Lansing was a fan of "Escape from New York" and wanted John Carpenter, Kurt Russell and Debra Hill to make the sequel in the same vein as the original. Kurt Russell as tough and valiant renegade is terrific . At the beginning of the film, Kurt Russell wears his costume from the original film, which still fits after 15 years . Kurt Russell not only came up with but wrote the entire ending of the movie , in fact it was the first and only writing credit . Escape From LA was caught in development hell for over ten years . A script for the film was first commissioned in 1985 but John Carpenter thought it "too light, too campy" . An initial script was written , but it remained dormant until Carpenter and Kurt Russell got together with frequent collaborator Debra Hill. It was Russell's persistence that got the film made ; Snake Plissken was his favourite character, a character he loved and wanted to play again . Support cast is frankly good such as Peter Fonda , Cliff Robertson , Valeria Golino , Stacy Keach , Pam Grier , Bruce Campbell , Michelle Forbes , A.J. Langer and Peter Jason , Carpenter's usual . The picture contains an imaginative and memorable production design by Lawrence G. Paull . Colorful and glimmer cinematography by Gary B. Kibbe . John Carpenter also made the atmospheric music score along with Shirley Walker . The movie likely to satisfy action enthusiasts and Kurt Russell fans .Director John Carpenter is in familiar ground with this well-done tale on the style of comic books and old Sci-Fi serials . His films often feature important visuals shown from a video screen , as the end-of-the-world transmission from the future in ¨Prince of darkness¨ (1987), the Norwegian recordings of the expedition to uncover the aliens in ¨The Thing¨ (1982), various TV sets and the general anti-TV motif in ¨They live¨(1988), etc. ¨1997 escape from N.Y¨ was realized during his best period in the 70s and late 8os when he directed classics as ¨Halloween¨, ¨The fog ¨, ¨Christine¨, ¨They live¨ , ¨Big Trouble in Little China¨ and ¨The thing¨ . The sequel ¨Escape from L.A¨ rating : average but entertaining . The movie will enjoy to noisy action fans but packs a roller-coaster thriller and wholesome amusement . The film will appeal to John Carpenter enthusiasts . A third sequel was going to be made titled Escape from Earth which would have had Snake escaping Earth after a dark matter experiment. However, the negative reaction to this film prevented the sequel from being developed. As the movie was a notorious failure on release, making around $25 million , just half its budget , at the US box office. Many reviews criticized the film for being too violent or for being too similar to the original film .