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Escape from New York (1981)

Director:
John Carpenter
COUNTRY
United States
Genre
Sci-Fi/Action

NORWEGIAN TITLE
New York 1997 / Flukten fra New York

RUNNING TIME
99 minutes

Producer:
Larry Franco
Debra Hill
Screenwriter:
John Carpenter
Nick Castle


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
S.D. "Snake" Plissken Kurt Russell ½
Bob Hauk Lee Van Cleef ½
Cabbie Ernest Borgnine ½
The President of the United States Donald Pleasence ½
Duke Isaac Hayes ½
Brain Harry Dean Stanton ½
Maggie Adrienne Barbeau ½

 

Review

The mood is akin to the 1970s paranoia thrillers, the setting is Carpenter's futuristic vision of a desolate, dirty New York in which convicted criminals have been isolated and left to their own devices, like a gargantuan Alcatraz Island. This is where the government send in war veteran Snake Plissken to rescue the president of the United States, who is being held captive after a hijacking of Air Force One. The premise is fun, and any John Carpenter universe should be met with a tingling anticipation, but Escape from New York will probably be a disappointment for both sci-fi aficionados and those who enjoyed Assault on Precint 13, which deals with gangs of criminals in a similar manner; as an impersonal, menacing organism in itself. Unlike Precint 13, this film lacks nerve and tries to replace it with set designs and action sequences which it doesn't really have the budget for or scope to pull off satisfactorily. Also, Kurt Russell's protagonist is a wooden and disappointing anti-hero with no distinguishing characteristics. The script was co-written by Carpenter and Nick Castle, who was the guy behind Michael Myers' mask in Halloween.

Copyright © 13.09.2020 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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