Escape from L.A. [4K]
SPOILER FREE REVIEW!
SPOILER FREE REVIEW!
In John Carpenter’s Escape from L.A., Kurt Russell is back as Snake Plissken in a surprisingly similar story to last time. After a devastating earthquake breaks it off from the rest of continental US, L.A. has been repurposed as an island prison, much like New York in the previous movie. Bringing in a series of ‘morality laws’ after he believes that God is punishing L.A. for its sins, the President outlaws things as innocent as freedom of religion, drinking alcohol and marriages that have not been ‘approved’; with any ‘offenders’ instantly having their US citizenship revoked, before being exiled to the island.
It’s now 2013, and the President’s daughter, Utopia (played by A.J. Langer), has stolen experimental US technology known as the ‘Sword of Damocles’, which has the ability to render a nation’s electronics useless, after being brainwashed by a Peruvian revolutionary known as Cuervo Jones (who appears to be modelled after Che Guevara). Offered the same deal as he was previously, to wipe his slate clean of any crimes (after racking up further charges since the prior movie), Snake Plissken must head into L.A. to track down Utopia, and the technology, in under 10 hours. He has been infected with a killer virus with a time limit, similar to how they forced his hand previously - only they had to be sneaky this time, since he’d have been unlikely to fall for that again.
The island of L.A. is in much better condition than New York was, and whilst it does still have its run down and damaged areas, and the inhabitants have created an equally dangerous and intimidating society; they utilise much of the L.A. infrastructure such as the buildings, and many more people still have vehicles. There are far more people living in this island prison than what we saw in New York, however - with the excessive laws in place, it makes sense that there would be a much larger population; with many non-violent people, too.
Filmed almost entirely at night, Escape from L.A. is just as visually dark as the first movie, maybe even more so, due to the richer, blacker blacks of the 4K release. It’s beautifully crisp, though there are a lot more instances of CG used, due to the advancements in technology in the 15 year gap between the two movies. These parts feel more than a little cheesy, such as the absolutely absurd surfing scene - and yet, these parts are improved for the 4K re-release.
The cast are brilliant in their roles, with Talisma (Valeria Golina) introduced to us early on, and you’ve also got great performances from the likes of Steve Buscemi (Map to the Stars Eddie) and Pam Grier (Hershe Las Palmas). There’s a cool cameo from Bruce Campbell, playing the Surgeon General of Beverly Hills, who looks freakishly bizarre with his exaggerated features (almost verging on Handsome Jack from Borderlands!), and his group of similarly caricature-like followers. The villainous Cuervo doesn’t quite hit the mark as well as NY’s The Duke, but the action sequences have fairly kicked things up a notch (almost to a wacky degree!).
Overall, we had a lot of fun with Escape from L.A. - it’s definitely a lot less serious than its predecessor, and is somewhat marred by the very similar plot structure (and the un-needed CG), but still manages to keep you entertained throughout. The 4K release looks and sounds fantastic, with a decent improvement over the Blu-ray - so if you’re looking to pick this up, I’d highly recommend going for the 4K if you’ve got the capability.
John Carpenter's Escape From L.A. is available on 4K UHD™ now!
In the end, we decided to give Escape from L.A. the Collecting Asylum rating of 7.5/10.
Have you seen Escape from L.A.? What do you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Substance Global for the Escape from L.A. 4K screener disc!
