Sadly Over-hyped

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Yet, again another cool action sci-fi from the master of genre movies John Carpenter, although its not quite as good as the original it's still a lot of fun and certainly still stands up as a cult classic sequel, the story is pretty much the same as before accept it's L.A. that's now also been sectioned off and the whole island is now a prison, the presidents daughter with the black box has fallen into terrorist hands within the walls of L.A and only one man can save the day, Snake is captured once again and promised a full pardon for the bad things he's been doing between movies, this time around there's plenty more action and shootouts and going underwater, flying, and lots of crazy effects, some of the effects are a tad cheesy but its the mid 90's and they still look cool, the cast has a few more famous faces this time with Steve Buscemi, Valeria Golino, Pam Grier, Bruce Campbell.The costumes and sets are very good and make the dystopian feel of future L.A. completely believable and engrossing to experience. This film is a Sci-fi romp with a little gore and black humor thrown in for good measure, as only John Carpenter can deliver it. The movie itself leaves a lot to be desired. In short,if you're not a Snake fan you probably won't enjoy it.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

When I watched L.A, the long-awaited sequel to the Carpenter classic Escape from New York, I enjoyed it. My now I'm sure you've realised my taste in movies is utterly terrible, right? Well, unlike most people who waited over a decade for Snake Plissken's return, I wasn't even born when Escape from Ney York came out. Therefore I didn't have that hype building up. If I did, I'm sure I would have disliked it, much how I didn't like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull after waiting ages for an Indiana Jones sequel. Like Ghosts of Mars, I can't argue that it's a good movie, because it's not. It's cheesy, campy, the special effects are laughably bad and the movie is more of a remake of New York than a sequel anyway. But I can't help it if I enjoyed the cheesiness and campiness. LA was Carpenter's attempt at pushing a long-in-production sequel into reality and from what I've heard he wished he hadn't bothered. I had a ball watching it however. Russell slips back into his signature role perfectly and the b-movieness around him is a delight to watch – there's a scene where he has to put a basketball into a hoop in an allotted time or die, and even a part where he surfs a wave down a street. Nowhere near as impressive as the original, which is legitimately a good film. Oh and whisper it, but the budget for LA was a whopping $50 million (compared to New York's measly $6 million), making it the most expensive Carpenter film and one of his biggest bombs. In fact, both Escape films work perfectly at showing what was right with Carpenter's earlier career and what was wrong with his later work.Best Scene: The part where Snake's submarine device swims through the sea is when I stopped taking the film seriously, but I'm gonna go for the ending, which was one of the ballsiest I've seen.

I once saw John Carpenter on a UK television show in the late 1980s discussing horror films. He was about 40 but looked like he was in his 60s and smoked like a chimney. Now he is a few years shy of his 70th year he probably looks like he is 120 years old. Maybe he should had realised by now smoking is bad for you so do we really need all the wise ass cracks about smoking from Snake Plissken in this movie?Escape from New York was a low budget cult film with cheapo effects (James Carpenter was one of the F/X guys.) Escape from LA is a big budget film with cheapo effects. Most of the budget presumably went on Kurt Russell's salary who also gets a writing credit.Russell reprises his impression of Clint Eastwood as he is tasked by the deranged President of the USA (Cliff Robertson) to recover a remote control to a super weapon stolen by his daughter.What we get are scenes clearly filmed inside a studio with a mundane script, little humour, dull characters and bad CGI including that surfing scene. Even the action scenes look uninspiring. It seems Carpenter only made this film for the pay cheque. Most of the actors here are just wasted ranging from Pam Grier to Stacy Keach.I have heard that Carpenter hurt by the financial failure of The Thing is one filmmaker who does not give a damn, hence the misanthropic ending to this film.However Escape to LA was hyped up before its release and arrived at the theatres as a damp squib.

Both Escape from New York and Escape from L.A. are decidedly anti-establishment films. They both have this cynical view of the government; in these films, the government is not to be trusted. There are terrorist attacks aimed at the government on both films. ESCAPE FROM L.A This second one is tongue in cheek every step of the way. Watching Escape from L.A. feels like watching a cheap Italian Rip Off like 2019: After the Fall of New York (1983), but with a bigger budget. Actually, Escape from L.A. has a lot of similarities with 2019: After the Fall of New York, so in a way, this is Carpenter's pay back for all those cheap Escape from New York rip offs that the Italians made. Ultimately, I love both Escape from New York and Escape from L.A. for different reasons. And for all the tonal differences between both films, they still have many similarities. No matter where, Snake Plissken will always be Snake Plissken, you can tell Russell has lots of love for this character. Plissken is what kept me watching. The opening and closing segments of the films are extremely similar as well. And here's where we get to the best part of the film, the ending. Not gonna spoil it don't worry, but I will tell you that it is the best thing about the movie. Russell himself came up with it and I applaud him for it, it encapsulates everything Snake Plissken is in terms of attitude. That idea that maybe the world would be better off if we simply started again, from scratch, screw the way things are, let's try something new! Welcome to the human race my friends, welcome to the human race.t does criticize fascist forms of government, it also criticizes rebellious leaders who instigate their followers towards committing violent acts. So it doesn't side with anyone. On this film, both sides are wrong. The film pleads for a new beginning, it's asking governments to forget their old grudges and start from scratch. Snake himself says it in one scene: "I shut down the third world, you win, they loose. I shut down America, they win, you loose. The more things change, the more they stay the same" This is one of the ideas presented in the film that I truly liked. The idea that both sides should just call it quits and bring on the peace, bring on the freedom. Again, this last bit demonstrates how much of Kurt Russell's Libertarian views are on this film. After all, he wrote a lot of it himself along with John Carpenter and Debra Hill. These are three life long buddies writing a movie they would find amusing, which makes this film a labor of love. This is probably why the film has a more laid back, 'were having fun here' vibe to it.