Image courtesy of IMDb
Hello, everyone.
For this review, I cover the subject of my first Flashback Cinema Screening of the year, and I picked a great one to start with.
This comes to us from John Carpenter, and has Kurt Russell as one of the most iconic action heroes of the 80s* with a very straightforward plot.
For those reasons alone, I had been interested to see this one for a long time, and when I heard it was being shown in my area, I knew I had to go see it.
Folks, for the second review in a row, we’re going to a very contained space, except the people here are more dangerous.
Thankfully, we have a badass hero to help us out, as I present my review of Escape From New York.
In 1988, while fighting against a collaboration of the Chinese and the Soviets, the U.S. government turns Manhattan into a maximum security prison in the hopes of also combatting the 400% rise of crime.
Once you get in, you can’t get out, as not only is the island walled off, but it is also heavily guarded.
Flash forward to 1997. The President is being flown to a peace summit when Air Force One is hijacked.
With a briefcase cuffed to his wrist, he is put into an escape pod that lands in Manhattan as the plane crashes.
After the crash, police are sent in for a rescue attempt. Unfortunately, they are warned that the Duke of New York has captured him and will kill him if they try any further attempts.
Meanwhile, ex-Special Forces Lieutenant Snake Plissken is actually about to be sent to the island for robbing the Federal Reserve.
However, Police Commissioner Bob Hauk gives him an offer: Successfully rescue the President within 24 hours and he will be granted a presidential pardon.
What Worked: In addition to Kurt Russell, you have a great supporting cast. You have Lee Van Cleef as Hauk, and it’s surprising to not have him as a villain, as he commonly portrayed villains, particularly in Westerns.
You also have Ernest Borgnine (yes, Mermaid Man himself is in this) as a taxi driver named “Cabbie,” who was not only funny, but I also thought he was the best character in the movie.
Then there’s the Duke, who is an excellent villain brought to life through an equally excellent performance from Isaac Hayes**. Though Cabbie was the best character for me, Isaac Hayes was the best performance for me. He’s awesome in this movie.
Though he’s not in it as much, Harry Dean Stanton (who you may remember as Brett from Alien) is really good as “Brain,” the Duke’s adviser who once worked with Snake.
We also have several actors who would collaborate with Carpenter in some capacity.
The ones most noteworthy are Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog) as Brain’s girlfriend Maggie, Charles Cyphers (Sheriff Brackett from Halloween) as the Secretary of State, and the two biggest ones who also worked with him on Halloween: Donald Pleasence (Dr. Sam Loomis) as the President and, though uncredited, Jamie Lee Curtis (who provides the narration that opens the movie).
Donald Pleasence was another big standout for me. As iconic as Loomis is, he’s still great here.
Now for the technical aspects.
It goes without saying that John Carpenter’s direction is excellent. The same can also be said for the very tight script that he cowrote with Nick Castle (the original Michael Myers himself), and the cinematography by Dean Cundey, who also shot Halloween.
The things that stand out the most, though, are the score (composed by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth, who worked on the Halloween franchise even after Carpenter left), the sound design, and the production design. They all really enhance the action. Then when the theme kicks on to close out the movie, it makes the experience all the more satisfying. In fact, the theme stood out so much that it was still playing in my head even as I wrote the review.
It might be one of my new favorite 80s action themes now, it’s that good.
The sound design is really good, especially in the second half. It stands out most in a scene where Snake has to fight in a death match with one of the Duke’s men, and then in the third act where it goes pretty much all out.
The production design in particular holds up very well. For a movie that cost 6 million, it looks like at least 20 million, which ironically enough, is around how much it’d be worth now.
It may look like New York, but for the majority of the movie, it’s actually miniatures and matte paintings***. When you see the streets and bridges, though, it’s in different areas.
They even had to improvise for the displays of the environments to keep it within the budget. Rather than using computers, they still found a way to do it practically.
What Didn’t Work: Granted, these may be nitpicks, but at the same time, they can’t go unaddressed, either.
I’ll get the biggest one out of the way first. While as a whole, the movie itself does hold up, you still can’t help but acknowledge how it’s a product of the time. For example, the plot itself is absurd and of course it totally would not happen. However, 80s and 90s action movies had a thing for that, and I knew that going in, being so accustomed to seeing that.
You also can’t help but notice a couple real world parallels, one of which is political. Now, I hardly delve into politics in movies unless either: A: It’s a political thriller, B: It has political satire, or C: It’s based on real world political events, true story or not. Other than that, I don’t touch it at all.
This is a rare case of that third exception. John Carpenter’s script first came about in the aftermath of Watergate, and on occasion, you can tell, and yet the movie around it is still entertaining. As long as you do it like that, then I’m fine with it.
The other parallel is from a purely cinematic standpoint. It’s the irony in the sense that in this movie, Air Force One is hijacked in 1997, and then in the actual 1997, Air Force One came out, and that was the conflict of the whole movie.
However, if you can at least go into this knowing that it’s a product of the time and yet it’s held up pretty well, you should have a fun time.
Overall: Escape From New York is an excellent action movie, and while its plot is certainly not believable (especially now), it’s still compelling.
With a well crafted script, great performances, exciting action, and a very clever use of practical effects, it really shows how John Carpenter is more than capable of branching out beyond horror even if he’s mainly known for it. This shows that he can do action and sci-fi, too.
It also shows that Kurt Russell was capable of branching out from comedy, which he was mostly known for at the time. Snake Plissken alone made him an action icon to where he’s his favorite role, and it’s easy to see why. He even brings a bit of humor to the character, and it really works.
If you haven’t seen Escape From New York, go check it out however you can, especially if you love 80s action movies.
Having also grown up on 90s action movies, it made me interested to see if my area will eventually have the sequel, Escape From L.A., even if I’ve heard it’s not as good.
Although, speaking of sequels…
Next time, we go back to this decade for a more modern adaptation of a classic sci-fi novel, the second part of which recently came out.
*He’s so iconic, in fact, that he basically inspired another icon of pop culture in Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid.
**Therefore, the fact that we have Mermaid Man and Chef from South Park in the same movie made me more eager to see it, having been born in the 90s.
***Fun Fact: A director I’m planning to cover at least a couple movies for this year (one being one of my favorites) worked on the matte paintings.