| Escape From L.A. | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | John Carpenter |
| Produced by | Debra Hill Kurt Russell |
| Written by | John Carpenter Debra Hill Kurt Russell |
| Starring | Kurt Russell Stacy Keach Steve Buscemi Peter Fonda Georges Corraface Cliff Robertson Michelle Forbes |
| Music by | John Carpenter Shirley Walker |
| Cinematography | Gary B. Kibbe |
| Editing by | Edward A. Warschilka |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 9, 1996[1] |
| Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $50,000,000 |
| Box office | $42,277,365 (Worldwide) |
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 former war hero Snake Plissken, played by Kurt Russell. It co-stars Steve Buscemi, Stacy Keach, Bruce Campbell, and Pam Grier.
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On August 23, 2000, an earthquake strikes Los Angeles, causing the San Fernando Valley to flood and turning California into an island from Malibu to Anaheim. An American presidential candidate who is also an outspoken Christian theocrat has been saying that 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 President. The President declares that anyone not conforming to the new "Moral America" laws he creates (banning such things as tobacco, alcoholic beverages, red meat, firearms, profanity, non-Christian religions, atheism and non-marital sex) will be deported to Los Angeles Island unless they repent and choose death by electrocution. A containment wall is built around the island, armed guards and watchtowers are posted, and those sent to the island are exiled permanently.
In 2013, Cuervo Jones, a Shining Path Peruvian Revolutionary, seduces the President's daughter, Utopia, via a holographic system and brainwashes her into stealing her father's remote control to the "Sword of Damocles" super weapon—a series of satellites capable of destroying electronics anywhere on the planet. The President intends to use the system to destroy America's enemies' "ability 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 third world nations that are standing by to attack. Cuervo claims that if the President tries to stop him, he will "pull the plug" on the country and black out the capital. Cuervo also knows the secret world code that can knock out power for the entire planet.
Snake Plissken is captured for another series of crimes and is scheduled to be exiled to the island. Upon his arrival for deportation, Snake meets the President and is offered the mission of retrieving the weapon. The President says he will give him a full pardon for all the crimes Snake has ever committed if he is successful. The President indicates he does not care if Utopia is returned or not, declaring her a traitor. To ensure his compliance, Snake is infected with the man-made Plutoxin 7 virus that will kill him within ten hours. If he completes the mission Snake will be cured.
Snake is given an assault rifle, a personal holographic projector, a thermal-camouflage overcoat, and a countdown clock for how long he has to live. Los Angeles is in ruins and a hotbed of crime. Snake sneaks into the city with a mini submarine that 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, a swindler who sells interactive tours of L.A.
Snake defeats Cuervo at his staging area of The Happy Kingdom By The Sea and takes the remote control. Snake leaves the island with Utopia and some other Cuervo resistors in a helicopter. Cuervo shoots at it with a rocket launcher just before Eddie kills him, but seeing the incoming rocket, Eddie leaps off the chopper, landing on an awning. The rocket hits the chopper and kills those in the back of the chopper but also causes a fire; Snake and Utopia bail out before it crashes. When the President's men reach the crash site, Snake intentionally hands off the wrong remote to the President while Utopia is taken to the electric chair despite her pleas for forgiveness. The Plutoxin 7 virus is revealed to be nothing more than a fast, hard-hitting case of the flu. The President tries using the satellites 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..
The President orders Snake's execution, but Snake previously activated his hologram projector and the Snake that gets shot is an illusion. Snake activates the real control device, entering the world code, against pleas to stop. At the deportation center, Utopia vocalizes surprise that Snake actually did it, "shut down the Earth" thus saving her.
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".[2] The project remained dormant following that time until the 1994 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".[3] Principal filming began in December 1995.
Escape from L.A. was a box office bomb, earning only $25,477,365 in the United States, about as much as its predecessor, but little more than half its significantly higher budget.[4]
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. Some[5] felt it was an attempt to satirize the genre while exploiting it. Roger Ebert states that "[Escape from L.A.] has such manic energy, such a weird, cockeyed vision, that it may work on some moviegoers as satire and on others as the real thing."
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. (The 2001 R2 release is anamorphic.[6][7])
Marvel released the one shot "The Adventures of Snake Plissken" in January 1997.[8] 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."
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.[9] 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 the car in which JFK was assassinated 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.
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