Classic Film Night - Escape from New York

 

Escape from New York is a sci-fi action film, that was produced by AVCO Embassy Pictures, International Film Investors, Goldcrest Films International, and City Films and distributed by AVCO Embassy Pictures. Escape from New York was written by John Carpenter and Nick Castle and directed by John Carpenter.

The story is, in 1988 a massive war has forced the United States to turn Manhattan into a maximum security prison to address the 400% increase in crime, the island is now walled off and under heavy police surveillance. Now in 1997, after the President has been captured by terrorist, the U.S. has given the rescue job to ex-Special Forces and current federal prisoner, Snake Plissken.

My Thoughts

Alright the first obvious thing I want to get out of the way is Kurt Russell. I don't know what it is, but whenever he stars in a John Carpenter film he's awesome. He was great in this, then The Thing, and later on Big Trouble in Little China. And even though I don't hold it high regard, Kurt was even pretty good in the sequel for this movie Escape from L.A.

Now let's move onto the cinematography. With the movie primarily being in a disastrous looking New York, the crew does a spectacular job capturing the look. Every part of this futuristic NY, is very grimy and dirty. The cinematography perfectly captures not only the look but also the tone of the movie.

Which now brings me to the special effects. Despite being made 1981, the effects haven't aged a day, they still hold up very nicely. Which is pretty amazing considering the movie was made with a $6 million dollar budget, but the effects would've made you think that this film had a budget of somewhere between $50 million or $60 million.

The last thing I'll praise is the action. Now I have read and heard some have a slight criticism regarding the action, saying how it's not as crazy as it could've been. But for me,I thought it was still fun. And I also think that was the point for two reasons. One) the movie's very dark, so instead of the violence being something you're looking forward to, like say a Die Hard, a Terminator, a Bad Boys, or a John Wick, they treat the violence as something far more bleak. Two) Snake was only given a limited amount of time to complete his mission. So it'd make sense that he'd either shoot and run, or finish the fight as quickly as humanly possible. Cause he has a literally ticking clock.

Guys, Escape from New York is not a great John Carpenter film, or action film, but a great film all around.

My final rating is, A Must Watch.

That's all for now. Come back on Monday, Apr 15th, for the last part of the Road to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, with my review of War for the Planet of the Apes. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.