Escape from L.A.

1996

1h 41m

IMDb RATING

5.9/10

1.5K

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Action

Adventure

Science Fiction

Thriller

Into the 9.6-quaked Los Angeles of 2013 comes Snake Plissken. His job: wade through L.A.'s ruined landmarks to retrieve a doomsday device.

Directors

John Carpenter

Writers

John Carpenter(characters by)

John Carpenter(screenplay by)

Debra Hill(screenplay by)

Stars

Kurt Russell

Stacy Keach

Steve Buscemi

See production, box office & company info

Top cast

Snake Plissken

Malloy

Eddie

Utopia

Surgeon General of Beverly Hills

Hershe Las Palamas

Pipeline

Cuervo Jones

Skinhead

Brazen

Taslima

Test Tube

Saigon Shadow

Hershe Gang Member

Hershe Gang Member

Surfer

Hooker

Duty Sergeant

Directors

John Carpenter

Writers

John Carpenter(characters by)

John Carpenter(screenplay by)

Debra Hill(screenplay by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

So Los Angeles has become a glorified open-air prison (who'd have thought?) and "Snake" (Kurt Russell) is invited to do his "Mad Max" thing and go in, at considerable peril to himself, and fetch a gadget that could enable the US President (Cliff Robertson) - or anyone else with the codes, for that matter - to use a satellite in the best traditions of "Diamonds are Forever" (1971) and destroy parts or all of the world. The twist, well it turns out that it's "Utopia" (A.J. Langer), who just happens to be the president's disgruntled daughter, who is the one who took the device into the lawless wasteland in the first place and enforcer "Malloy" (Stacey Keach) is determined to get it back, regardless of whether or not she comes back with it. It's a derivative mess, this film. It's rooted in so many other stories that are much better executed; there is simply no menace or jeopardy at all, and John Carpenter seems unsure whether he wants an all-out action film or a semi-comedy. Russell is always at his more entertaining with the latter, here he just comes across as a man with a mission who is no more interested in the plot than I was. Steve Buscemi doesn't really add much either as the duplicitous "Eddie" and I am sure I spotted Peter Fonda in here too - a payday for a few actors who ought to have known better. The effects and pyrotechnics are adequate but the nadir in a basketball court surrounded by gun-toting assassins who could't hit a cow on the tit with a tin cup just put the icing on this really undercooked muffin.

Geronimo196706 Jul, 2022