Julian RuncanEscape from New York: Definitely Not a Bloodbath
March 20th 2010 01:55
I'll admit I went into Escape from New York a little eager. All I really knew was that the movie was supposed to be extremely badass, and that the video game character Solid Snake was based off of Snake Plissken. I was expecting something similar to Commando, a non-stop conveyor belt of blood and mayhem. Actually, Escape from New York is more similar to The Warriors, or at least what I imagine The Warriors is like since I haven't actually seen it yet, but I don't really have a desire to, which is probably why I found Escape from New York to be a disappointment.
The concept is a good one, and although everything has a nice layer of eighties cheese on it, there are still some parts that are pretty cool. The main problem I found with the movie was that it was a giant exercise in potential not being realized, with many sequences that seemed like they were stopped short right as they were really picking up steam. That's pretty much what the whole viewing experience felt like to me, a lot of build-up that never really paid off.
Kurt Russel does deliver, but most of the other characters seem unnecessary, poorly developed, annoying, or a terrible combination of the above. I found myself asking why we kept getting glimpses of people and situations that never came up again, which I guess adds to the overall sense of chaos, but still failed to bring me into the narrative enough to give a damn.
If you're looking for a non-stop action ride, like some of the other genre classics from the eighties, you picked the wrong flick. If you're looking for a different type of science-fiction idea that feels like it comes right out of a video game, then you might be on the right track. While certainly not a bad film, especially considering what Carpenter was able to pull of with the budget he worked with, the reputation it has built up over the years certainly is a misleading one.
6.0/10
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