Escape From L.A. - Inferior, but enjoyable sequel

For some reason, despite being a fan of both (actor) Kurt Russell and (writer/director) John Carpenter, I never really went for their team-up movie 'Escape from New York' back in the seventies.  On paper it had everything I was looking for in a film, but it just left me cold.  However, I was in the minority there and plenty of people lord it as a 'classic' dystopian action/sci-fi film of the seventies.  Now we come to the sequel, 'Escape From L.A.' around twenty years later.  Sequels normally have trouble living up to the original, let alone if there's a huge gap between them ('Basic Instinct 2' I'm looking at you).

Unfortunately, 'Escape From L.A.' kind of came and went from the public's conscious and no one really noticed.  It never came close to generating such fondness with audiences and is generally considered a 'flop' in filmic terms.  Even though I'm no 'mega fan' of the original, I can see why people enjoyed it.  Maybe it's because I don't have as much love for Snake Plissken's original outing that I can appreciate the sequel and not expect so much from it.  And I do think that setting your expectations quite low is the key to enjoying it.  It's certainly no classic, but there are definitely worse out there.

The first time around Kurt Russell played snarling anti-hero 'Snake Plissken' as he was recruited against his will by the Government and forced to rescue the President from the - now sealed off - city of New York.  Guess what, this time round he has to rescue someone from L.A. (and defuse some sort of nuke-type device - it's not that relevant!).  So, expect more (one-eyed) snarling from our protagonist, plenty of gun-play and the odd one-liner thrown in to show that the film kind of knows that it doesn't take itself too seriously.

Along the way, Snake encounters plenty of colourful characters to aid and/or hamper his quest.  Steve Buscemi is right up there as the main one that you'll remember, playing his typical 'wise-guy' kind of wheeler-dealer who you never know which side he's really on (besides his own!).  However, my personal favourite was the group of humans who became addicted to plastic surgery in Hollywood and now are constantly hunting victims to steal their bodyparts.  This gang is headed by (the ever-awesome) Bruce Campbell.  Here, my only complaint is that this plotline isn't explored enough - seriously, I could have watched a whole film that revolved round this aspect!  In fact, most people Snake meets are enjoyable to watch and add to the story... possibly apart from the one person who matters, i.e. the villain.  He's about the most paper-thin character of them all and, when you have someone as iconic as Snake as the lead, you really need to look hard for that special kind of villain to match him.

'Escape From L.A.' does feel a little dated now, especially when it comes to special effects.  These basically aren't that special.  Most are blatantly shot up against a bluescreen and it does tend to drag you out of the action.  As do the numerous establishing shots of a post-apocalyptic L.A. which are obviously just drawings.

However, it is just a B-movie and, if you keep telling yourself that then there's definitely entertainment to be found here, even if this is probably the last time you'll see Snake Plissken in action on the big screen (Box Office returns, combined with Kurt Russel's age, seem to dictate that this will be the last!).

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that