Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (January 18, 2022)
Upon release in 1981, John Carpenter’s Escape From New York failed to make a major dent at the US box office. Among the year’s release, it wound up in 32nd place, two spots below Halloween II, the first sequel to Carpenter’s breakout 1978 hit.
However, Escape from New York found a strong cult audience over time. 15 years later, that following allowed Carpenter to create a follow-up via 1996’s Escape From LA.
Set in the then-future of 2013, earthquakes caused Los Angeles to separate from the rest of California and become its own island. The US also became a “moral society” so those who don’t follow a rigid code find themselves sent to LA, now used as a massive prison.
Terrorist leader Cuervo Jones (Georges Corraface) steals a doomsday device, a task aided by assistance from Utopia (AJ Langer), the brainwashed runaway daughter of the president (Cliff Robertson). Once again, anti-hero Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) gets the assignment to infiltrate a penal island and save the day.
Despite the first flick’s following, LA did worse business theatrically. It made a mere $25 million in the US and wound up in 63rd place for the year.
Unlike its predecessor, however, LA never got the same kind of reappraisal that greeted New York. Carpenter enjoys enough of a cult audience that LA maintains an audience, but it seems much less well-regarded than the original film,
Which might be because LA offers a considerably weaker film than New York. While I never loved the 1981 flick, it works a whole lot better than this feeble retread.
And take “retread” fairly literally, as LA usually feels like a remake of its predecessor. The setting allows for some curveballs, and the story finds a few minor ways to change the tale, but both flicks clearly come from the same gameplan.
That feels like a mistake, especially given how beloved New York became. If LA offered a narrative that clearly diverged from the plot of the first movie, it would feel more creative.
The use of a similar story seems to set up LA for failure. Given the similarities, fans appear likely to directly compare the two and feel disappointed that LA fails to adequately compare to the original.
There’s just a stale smell about LA. Carpenter clearly understood that New York got a good cult following in the 15 years between movies, so he apparently figured he could capitalize on this by giving the fans what they already had, just in a different location.
Perhaps if Carpenter found other ways to bring spark to the material, the “semi-remake” vibe would seem less disappointing. However, even with the fertile territory for fun adventure through the SoCal setting, Carpenter doesn’t manage to do much to form lively adventures.
Basically Snake plods around LA on his quest, interacts with locals – some helpful, some not – and tries to stay alive. Outside of a handful of area-specific gags – like one on surfboards – we don’t find much that wouldn’t also work in New York.
LA enjoys a good cast. In addition to Russell and Robertson, Carpenter loads the flicks with folks like Steve Buscemi, Pam Grier, Peter Fonda, Stacy Keach, Bruce Campbell and others.
Carpenter also proved prescient in the way he predicted a political shift to the hard right and the dangerous side of social networks. Cuervo recruits Utopia via “VR rooms” that seem awfully familiar to those of us today.
Despite those depressingly accurate predictions, Escape From LA becomes a dud. Carpenter can’t figure out a new way to feature his anti-hero so he just gives us more of the same, and this fails to turn into a winning formula.
