Escape From L.A. (also known as John Carpenter's Escape From L.A.) is a 1996 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.
Plot
On August 23, 2000, an earthquake reaching 9.6 magnitude hits the city of Los Angeles, causing it to separate from the 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 (Cliff Robertson) who is also an outspoken Christian theocracist makes a doomsday prediction of the disaster during his campaign, saying L.A. is 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."
The candidate is elected as the new President and a new constitutional amendment appoints him for life. The President declares that anyone not conforming to the new "Moral America" laws he creates (banning such things as smoking, alcoholic beverages, red meat, firearms, profanity, non-Christian religions and non-marital sex) will lose their citizenship and be deported to Los Angeles Island (unless they repent and choose the electric chair). 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 shore of the island, armed guards and watchtowers are posted, and those sent to the island are exiled permanently.
In 2013, Cuervo Jones (played by Georges Corraface), a Shining Path Peruvian Revolutionary, 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. While traveling aboard Air Force Three, Utopia leaves the plane in an escape pod and lands on L.A. Island to join 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 to attack. Cuervo claims that if the President tries to stop him, he'll "pull the plug" on the country and black out the capital. Cuervo also knows the secret "world code", 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 is blackmailed into going to the island as an exile. Upon his arrival for deportation, however, Snake meets 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 does not care if Utopia is returned or not, declaring her a traitor. Initially, Snake refuses to get involved, but to ensure his compliance, Snake is infected with the man-made Plutoxin 7 (different than what he got last time) virus which will kill him within ten 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. Los Angeles is now in ruins and a hotbed of crime. Snake sneaks into the city with a mini submarine which he loses when the platform it landed on crumbles, causing the sub to sink. Making his way across the island, Snake meets "Map to the Stars" Eddie (Steve Buscemi), a swindler who makes a living selling interactive tours of L.A.
Snake defeats Cuervo at his staging area of The Happy Kingdom By The Sea and takes the remote control. Eventually, Snake escapes the island with Utopia in a helicopter. Cuervo shoots it with a rocket launcher before Eddie manages to kill him, but this action causes Eddie to fall off the chopper. Snake and Utopia reach the President. Snake intentionally hands off the wrong remote to the President while Utopia is taken to the electric chair for execution despite her pleas for forgiveness. The Plutoxin 7 virus is revealed to be nothing more than a fast, hard-hitting case of the flu. Thinking he has control of the satellites, the President tries to use them 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's execution, 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. At the deportation center, Utopia praises Snake for "turning off the world" and saving her. 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."
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 the 1989 earthquake and the L.A. riots revived it. 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] Principal filming began in December, 1995.
Reception
Escape from L.A. was a box office bomb, earning only $25,464,036 in the United States, little more than half its budget.
The film received a 58% rating from Rotten Tomatoes based on various critics' reviews. The film was panned for its gratuitous action sequences which were significantly scaled up from the previous film, which many critics felt added little to the film. Direct similarities between the two films include:
- Snake’s recent arrest
- the hijacking of a presidential aircraft
- an escape pod being launched into a guarded island
- Snake being sent in after rescues fail
- Snake being injected with an agent that will kill 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 sitting down on a discarded chair to reflect on events
- Snake being forced to participate in a human bloodsport
- Snake being injured in the right leg
- Snake switching the recovered item with a mundane version, which leads to public embarrassment for the president.
Despite the film's lukewarm reception and poor box office sales, it has developed a cult following.
Home video
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.
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
Comics
The Adventures of Snake Plissken
Marvel released the one shot "The Adventures of Snake Plissken" in January 1997. The story takes place sometime between Escape from New York and before his famous Cleveland escape mentioned in Escape from LA. Snake has robbed Atlanta's Center for Disease Control of some engineered metaviruses and is looking for buyers in Chicago. Finding himself in a deal that's really a set up, he makes his getaway and exacts revenge on the buyer for ratting him out to the United States Police Force. In the meantime, a government lab has built a robot called A.T.A.C.S. (Autonomous Tracking And Combat System) that can catch criminals by imprinting their personalities upon its program in order to predict and anticipate a specific criminal's every move. The robot's first test subject is America's public enemy number one, Snake Plissken. After a brief battle, the tide turns when A.T.A.C.S. copies Snake to the point of fully becoming his personality. Now recognizing the government as the enemy, A.T.A.C.S. sides with Snake. Unamused, Snake punches the machine and destroys it. As A.T.A.C.S. shuts down, it can only ask him, "Why?" Snake just walks off answering, "I don't need the competition."
John Carpenter's Snake Plissken Chronicles
Snake Plissken appeared in John Carpenter's Snake Plissken Chronicles, a four-part comic book miniseries released in 2003 that was published by CrossGen comics. The story takes place some time after the events in Escape from New York. Snake has been given a military Humvee after his presidential pardon and makes his way to Atlantic City. Despite the fact the director's cut of the New York movie shows Snake was caught after a bank job, this story has Snake finishing up a second heist that was preplanned before his capture. The job is stealing JFK's car he was assassinated in from a casino and then delivering it to a buyer on a yacht in the gulf. The job involves Snake's partnership with a man named Marrs who ends up double crossing him. Left for dead in a sinking crab cage, Snake escapes and is luckily saved by a passing fisherman named Captain Ron. When Ron denies Snake's request to use his boat in order to beat Marrs to the robbery, Snake decides to kill him. But when he ends up saving Ron from a Russian mob wanting money, Ron changes his mind and helps Snake. Once at the casino, Snake comes face to face with Marrs and his men who arrive at the same time, ending in a high speed shoot out. Snake gets away with the car and its actress portraying Jackie Kennedy, leaving Marrs to be caught by the casino owner who cuts him a deal to bring his car back and live. After some trouble, Snake manages to finally get the car to the buyer's yacht with Ron's boat and is then attacked by Marrs. Following the fire fight the yacht and car is destroyed, Marrs and Captain Ron are dead, and Snake makes his escape in a helicopter with the 30 million credits owed to him for the job.
Notes
- ^ Gilles Boulenger, John Carpenter Prince of Darkness, (Los Angeles, Silman-James Press, 2003), pp.246, ISBN 1-879505-67-3
- ^ Boulenger, pp. 246
External links
