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Escape from L.A.

Escape from L.A.
Jorge Solis

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A earthquake separates Los Angels from the rest of the world. Now Los Angeles becomes a maximum security prison for the worst criminals alive. Once again when you come in, you never come out. If you thought living
in New York was tough, Los Angeles will just kill you.  This is John Carpenter's Escape from L.A., the second part of the trilogy.

Sequels usually are the worst. You've got Nightmare on Elm Street 2 and the please God forgive me for making this movie, Cinderella 2. Then there are sequels that are actually better than their predecessors. You've got James Cameron's Aliens and Guillermo Del Toro's Blade 2. Escape from L.A. is actually better than Escape from New York.  Kurt Russell is back in the role of Snake Plissken.  

He's still the same as always. He is still the emotionless and no principles anti-hero. Again he is thrown into the situation. Now he must save President's daughter or die in 24 hours. This time though he has a better outfit and better weapons.  In the original, Snake Plissken went through the famous spots of Manhattan.  Now Snake Plissken goes through the famous spots of Los Angles. He goes from Sunset Boulevard to Disneyworld. Snake Plissken is also having a little bit of fun while being mean and gruff.  John Carpenter, Debra Hill, and Kurt Russell have written an exciting script. Instead of a graceful and pretty jetplane ride, they came up with an exciting and wild underwater ride. They also knew without Isaac Hayes, this movie would be in trouble. To prevent this, they created two characters: Jose Cuervo Jones and Pipeline. Jose Cuervo Jones is a cool name for a villain and has personality, a rare quality. Give me another villain that has a cool name and personality at the same time.

Pipeline is the stoned surfer who loves to curse. It is important to you to see Snake Plssken and Peter Fonda as Pipeline  surfing. It's stupid but you know you're having fun watching it. The fun doesn't end there with the surfing. Then watch Kurt Russell and Steve Buscemi fight in the red Cadillac while it's driving. I felt a little bit ripped off by how short the fight was between Kurt Russell and Issacc Hayes as The Duke. I was very pleased with the fight between Jose Cuervo Jones and Snake Plissken.

The movie is fun and the music is great as well. You will also notice how John Carpenter's direction has become better over the years. I may have a lot of time on my hands but I know what I'm talking about. Near the end of Halloween, the camera follows Jamie Lee Curtis and turns as she reaches to the door. In the middle of Escape from L.A., the camera follows Kurt Russell as he runs past wrecked cars and turns when he stops. It's the same camera technique but definitely done much better in Escape from L.A.    

Watching Escape from L.A. is great on DVD. Like I said before, it is fun watching Snake Plissken surfing. It's also great that you can click a button to see the fight between Snake Plsissken and Jose Cuervo again and again. The movie has an all star cast with Pam Grier, Bruce Campbell, Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda, A.J. Langer, Stacy Keach, and Michelle Forbes. 

Here's hoping that John Carpenter will finish the trilogy. I really want to see the final part, Escape from Earth.

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Jorge Solis  
Resident John Carpenter Expert