John Carpenter’s first sequel. Escape From L.A. brings back Snake Plissken. The setup here is that in the late 20th century, a Presidential predicts a major earthquake will hit California and Las Vegas because of their sinful ways. Unlike Pat Robertson, his prediction comes true. American makes the now island of Los Angeles a one way prison. The president was elected to a lifetime appointment. They instituted a theocracy. If you were to sinful you were sent to L.A. (but you get the option to repent of your sin and be immediately electrocuted).
In the future of 2013, the President’s daughter (oddly named Utopia, because a hyper-religious parent would name their kid Utopia? Or is the implication that he used to be a hippie?) has stolen an important prototype and run off to L.A. Like before, the government calls in Snake Plissken and forces hm to make a deal to go into L.A. and get the prototype back so a potential invasion of America can be averted.
Plissken runs into all sorts of Oddballs, such as evil plastic surgeons and a surfer gang. He gets help from the morally ambiguous Map to the Stars Eddie and the sexy Taslima. He takes on Cuervo Jones in an attempt to get the prototype.
Like most sequels, Escape From L.A. mimics Escape from New York a lot. There is even a scene where he walks into a club and finds a dead Rescue Team member he was tracking. On the other hand, the film really amps up the action.
The film has stuff that does not really make sense. The Evangelical President outlawed eating of red meat? I mean, it might make more sense if the laws were based in Old Testament. The effects are not..well…effective. Many scenes are clearly green screened. The basketball sequence just does not compare to the gladiatorial combat of the first film.
This is not to say the film is terrible. The cast, including Steve Buscemi, Valeria Golina, Pam Grier, Stacy Keach and Cliff Robertson are all good. And Russell slips right back into the skin of Snake Plissken with ease. One of the most entertaining moments is when Snake is captured by the Surgeon General of Beverly Hills (Played by Bruce Campbell). He leads a group of surgically enhanced misfits…they need to keep replenishing their body parts and look like the surgical disasters of nightmare on E! Television.
Escape From L.A. is fun, but comes no where near the classic status of Escape from New York.
An attempt by Showtime to create a Horror Anthology to compete with HBO’s Tales From the Crypt, Body Bags both starred and featured direction from John Carpenter. Showtime killed the series but released the three shorts set against bookend segments hosted by Carpenter as a creepy coroner. His assistant was Tobe Hooper, director of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Both directed a segment as well.
Tripping Through Gateways 