Escape from L.A.
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| Escape From L.A. | |
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| Directed by | John Carpenter |
| Produced by | Debra Hill Kurt Russell |
| Written by | John Carpenter Debra Hill Kurt Russell |
| Starring | Kurt Russell Stacy Keach Steve Buscemi Peter Fonda Georges Corraface Cliff Robertson |
| Music by | John Carpenter Shirley Walker |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 9, 1996 |
| Running time | 101 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $50,000,000 |
| Preceded by | Escape from New York |
| Followed by | Escape from New York (remake) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Escape From L.A. (also known as John Carpenter's Escape From L.A.) is a 1996 cult film directed by John Carpenter. The sequel to the action film Escape from New York, the film follows war hero Snake Plissken, played by Kurt Russell. It co-stars Steve Buscemi, Stacy Keach, Bruce Campbell and Pam Grier.
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[edit] Plot
In the year 2000, an earthquake reaching 9.6 magnitude hits the city of Los Angeles, causing it to be separated from the continental mainland by flooding the San Fernando Valley (now called the "San Fernando Sea") and turning it into an island from Malibu to Anaheim. Just prior to this, an American presidential candidate (an obscure reference to Jerry Falwell; played by Cliff Robertson), who is also an out-spoken Christian militant, had made a doomsday prediction of the disaster during his campaign, saying L.A. was a "city of sin", and that; "Like the mighty hand of God, waters will rise up and separate this sinful, sinful city, from our country."
In the chaos that followed, the candidate is elected as the new President and a new constitutional amendment appoints him for life in office. This President declares that all people not conforming to the new "Moral America" laws he sets for the country (banning such things as smoking, alcoholic beverages, red meat, owning firearms, profanity, non-Christian religions (including atheism), and non-marital sex) will lose their citizenship and be deported to Los Angeles Island. Like New York City in Escape from New York, Los Angeles is turned into a penal colony of sorts. A containment wall is built around the shores of the mainland, armed guards and watchtowers are posted everywhere and those sent to the island are exiled permanently.
In 2013, Cuervo Jones (played by Georges Corraface), a Che Guevara-like Shining Path Peruvian terrorist, seduces the President's daughter, Utopia (played by A.J. Langer), via a holographic internet system and brainwashes her into stealing her father's remote control to the "Sword of Damocles" super weapon — a series of high-tech satellites capable of destroying electronics anywhere on the planet using a focused electromagnetic pulse. The President had threatened to use the system to render enemies of America "unable to function", and eventually dominate the world. Utopia gets away in an escape pod from Air Force Three and lands on L.A. Island to be with Cuervo.
With the satellites under his control, Cuervo promises to take back America with the assistance of an allied invasion force of Latin American nations that are standing by for his signal to attack. Cuervo threatens that if the President tries to stop him, he'll "pull the plug" on the country and demonstrates his power by blacking out the capital (which has been moved to the President's hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia). Cuervo also knows the secret "world code", (which is 666), that can activate all the satellites and knock out power for the entire planet.
Meanwhile, Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), is captured for another series of crimes and forced to go to the island as an exile. Upon his arrival for deportation, however, Snake is sent to meet the President and is offered the mission to retrieve the remote device. The President says he will give him a full pardon for all the crimes he has ever committed if he is successful. The President indicates he doesn't care if Utopia is returned or not, saying she is a traitor and "dead to me". Initially, Snake refuses to get involved, but to ensure his compliance, Snake was secretly infected with the man-made Plutoxin 7 virus which will kill him within hours. If he completes the mission, Snake will be given the antidote.
Snake is given a submachine gun, a personal holographic projector, a thermal-camouflage overcoat, and a countdown clock for how long he has to live. The virus works fast, and Snake is given only nine hours to find the device and get out before he dies. Like New York, Los Angeles is now in ruins, and a hot-bed of crime. Snake sneaks into the city with a nuclear-powered mini submarine which he soon loses when the unsturdy platform it landed on crumbles, causing the sub to sink into the ocean.
Making his way across the island, Snake meets an array of characters, including those played by Steve Buscemi (as "Map to the Stars" Eddie, a swindler who makes a living selling interactive tours of L.A.), a knife-wielding skinhead played by Robert Carradine, Pam Grier (as Hershe Las Palmas, a.k.a. Carjack Malone - a transsexual and former accomplice of Snake, who also tells him the Plutoxin virus is a propagandized lie and won't kill him), Peter Fonda (as a hippie surfer), Valeria Golino (a lonely woman who falls in love with Snake, but is soon killed in a gang shooting), and also a cameo by Bruce Campbell (as the insane "Surgeon General of Beverly Hills").
Snake finally defeats Cuervo at his staging area of The Happy Kingdom By The Sea and gets hold of the remote control. Eventually, Snake escapes the island with Utopia and hands off the wrong remote to the President while Utopia is taken to the electric chair for execution. The Plutoxin 7 virus is revealed to be nothing more than a fast, hard hitting case of the flu, not in the least bit lethal to Snake. Thinking he has control of the satellites, the President tries to use it to stop a Cuban invasion force threatening Florida. Activating the remote, the President hears only Eddie's "Map to the Stars" intro over I Love L.A. instead.
In anger, the President orders Snake to be executed, but Snake had activated his hologram projector and the Snake that gets shot is an illusion. Snake activates the device, entering the world code, against pleas to stop. The illusory Snake disappears, since he has "turned off the Earth". In reality he is a few hundred yards away where he finds a pack of cigarettes on the ground and lights one up. The cigarette box is labeled "American Spirit," he then says to himself; "Welcome to the human race."
[edit] Production
The film was in development for over ten years with a script commissioned in 1985, written by screenwriter Coleman Luck. Carpenter would later describe the script as "too light, too campy".[1] The project remained dormant following that time until Carpenter and Kurt Russell got together to write with their long-time collaborator Debra Hill. Carpenter insists that it was Russell's persistence that allowed the film to be made since "Snake Plissken was a character he loved and wanted to play again".[2]
[edit] Reception
Escape from LA was a box office failure, earning only $25,464,036 in the US, little more than half its budget.
The film received a 58% freshness rating from Rotten Tomatoes based on various critics' reviews. The movie was panned for its gratuitous action sequences, explosions, etc which were significantly scaled up from the previous movie- and many critics felt they added little to the movie.
The film has been regarded as being very similar to the original, even in specific plot elements, a fact that most found detrimental, but a few praised. Direct similarities between the two movies include:
Snake’s recent arrest, the high-jacking of a presidential aircraft, an escape pod being launched into a guarded island, Snake being sent in after rescues fail, Snake being injected with a chemical that supposedly kills him after an elapsed amount of time, Snake using a small one-man craft to enter the city incognito (which he ends up losing), Snake being forced to participate in a human blood-sport; and Snake switching the recovered item with a mundane version, which leads to public embarrassment for the president.
[edit] DVD
Paramount released two DVD editions of the film in 1998 and 2006. They are "barebones" releases, containing no special features except for the original theatrical trailer. The 2006 edition features different cover art. These R1 releases are also non-anamorphic transfers.
[edit] Soundtrack
- "Dawn" – Stabbing Westward
- "Sweat" – Tool
- "The One" – White Zombie
- "Cut Me Out" – Toadies
- "Pottery" – Butthole Surfers
- "10 Seconds Down" – Sugar Ray
- "Blame (L.A) Remix" - Gravity Kills
- "Professional Widow" – Tori Amos
- "Paisley" – Ministry
- "Fire In The Hole" – Orange 9mm
- "Escape From The Prison Planet" – Clutch
- "Et Tu Brute?" – CIV
- "Foot On The Gas" - Sexpod
- "Can't Even Breathe" - Deftones
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Gilles Boulenger, John Carpenter Prince of Darkness, (Los Angeles, Silman-James Press, 2003), pp.246, ISBN 1-879505-67-3
- ^ Boulenger, pp. 246
[edit] External links
- Escape from L.A. at the Internet Movie Database
- Escape from L.A. at theofficialjohncarpenter.com
- DGA magazine interview with Carpenter
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