Escape from L.A. (1996), dir. John Carpenter, Paramount Pictures/Rysher Entertainment
I gave some serious thoughts to simply cutting and pasting my Escape from New York review, but no, you folks deserve original content.
2000
A massive earthquake hits California, shattering the state and turning Los Angeles into an island. One fellow (Cliff Robertson) talked about this beforehand so naturally he is elected president for life. Once in power he turns the United States into a theocratic dictatorship.
2013
The military has finally developed the ultimate weapon-the Sword of Damocles. A kil-sat capable of utterly destroying anything it targets, and it has just been stolen. The President's daughter Utopia (Allison Joy Langer) has stolen it for her boyfriend, Cuervo Jones (Georges Corraface). Jones is the leader of the militant Shining Path, who more or less run things on LA Island.
Enter Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell). Seems that pardon he got from the last president doesn't cover any new crimes, so once again Snake is offered a choice-life behind bars or do a job and get a pardon. He even gets infected just so he'll go. This time it's a nasty bioweapon instead of explosives, but it'll get the job done.
Once in LA, Snake runs into "Maps to the Stars" Eddie (Steve Buscemi), a local tour guide and not at all a cab driver. He has a brief interlude with the Surgeon General of Beverly Hills (Bruce Campbell) but manages to escape minus a sidekick.
Snake even runs into an old pal, Carjack Malone, but Malone is going by Hershe Las Palmas (Pam Grier). Snake doesn't care, as he hates his old pals regardless of their gender. Will Snake rescue Utopia in time? Will there be a twist?
Will this film be even half-way original instead of a retread of the first? Seriously, almost every plot point is repeated. The final shot is a lovely bit of meanness that perfectly fits Snake, so that almost makes up for it.
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