{"id":23364,"date":"2020-05-29T12:09:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T19:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=23364"},"modified":"2022-02-12T15:19:03","modified_gmt":"2022-02-12T23:19:03","slug":"review-escape-from-la-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2020\/05\/review-escape-from-la-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Escape from L.A.: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Escape from L.A.<\/em><\/strong> seems to blend together 1980s and 1990s cheese with a mixture of success while others are just too much, though Kurt Russell is still great as Snake. I will say, this one at least does have some replay value.<\/p>\n

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Escape from L.A.
\n<\/span>\u2014 Collector’s Edition \u2014<\/span>
\n(1996)<\/span>
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Genre(s): <\/strong>Action, Adventure<\/span>
\nShout Factory | R \u2013 100 min. \u2013 $34.93 | April 28, 2020<\/span><\/p>\n

Date Published:<\/strong> 05\/29\/2020 | Author:<\/strong> The Movieman<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Directed by: <\/strong>John Carpenter
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>John Carpenter and Nick Castle (characters); John Carpenter & Debra Hill & Kurt Russell (written by)
\nCast: <\/strong>Kurt Russell, Stacy Keach, Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda, Georges Corraface, Cliff Robertson<\/span><\/p>\n

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DISC INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Features: <\/strong>Interviews, Gallery, TV Spots, Theatrical Trailer
\nSlip Cover: <\/strong>Yes
\nDigital Copy: <\/strong>No
\nFormats Included: <\/strong>Blu-ray
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>1<\/span><\/p>\n
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Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), English (DTS-HD MA 2.0)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 2.35
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>45.79 GB
\nTotal Bitrate: <\/strong>42.92 Mbps
\nCodecs: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A<\/span><\/p>\n
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Shout Factory provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
\nThe opinions I share are my own.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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THE MOVIE \u2014 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Plot Synopsis: <\/strong>In 2013, the United States president (CLIFF ROBERTSON) is exiling all citizens who don’t conform to his hyper-conservative views to Los Angeles, which became an island after a huge earthquake. But, when the president’s daughter nabs the detonator to her dad’s apocalyptic weapon and sneaks into L.A. to be with the rebel leader she loves, the government taps commando-turned-crook Snake Plissken (KURT RUSSELL) to retrieve the young woman. And, if he doesn’t succeed quickly, he’ll be executed.<\/p>\n

Review: <\/strong>While I can\u2019t say have a special infinity for Escape from New York<\/em>, I did find it to be an entertaining enough apocalyptic action-adventurer featuring a bad ass Kurt Russell sporting an eye-patch. Ten years later, after being held in development hell, Escape from L.A.<\/em><\/strong> was released and didn\u2019t exactly catch the box office on fire ($25 million).<\/p>\n

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Interestingly, this was my first viewing of this sequel and\u2026 it pretty much was what I expected. It showed the difference between 80s camp with 90s camp, the latter not nearly as cool as the former, here we find Snake Plissken surfing on waves, alongside Peter Fonda, caused by a tsunami.<\/p>\n

Part of the problem for me, though I acknowledge some might think this a positive, the visual effects even by mid-90s standards, was really poor, lots of bad green screen compositing that I found less thrilling and more snicker-worthy. Still, I guess this could fall into the good-bad category especially watching amongst friends and family (if we\u2019re allowed to ever do that again, of course).<\/p>\n

The acting is pretty standard. Kurt Russell is still a bad-ass and fills the role really well; Cliff Robertson as a Pat Robertson-like televangelist President of the United States cannot hold a candle to Donald Pleasance, though in fairness he had more to do in ETNY<\/em> whereas Robertson stood around a control room. And Stacy Keach makes for a fine semi-foil as did George Corraface in what looks like a Che-inspired revolutionary character, but again, this is Snake\u2019s show.<\/p>\n

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John Carpenter is a very talented filmmaker and I do appreciate he doesn\u2019t get himself stuck in one distinct genre and instead diversifies going from a horror classic like Halloween<\/em>, supernatural-horror with The Fog<\/em>, post-apocalypse thriller in Escape from New York<\/em>, supernatural-comedy Big Trouble in Little China<\/em>, sci-fi\/romance Starman <\/em>and, of course, my favorite of his, probably even more so than Halloween<\/em>, the claustrophobic horror film, 1982\u2019s The Thing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This might not rank among Carpenter\u2019s best but far from his worst (Ghost of Mars<\/em>, originally intended as an Escape<\/em> sequel, is pretty bad), and cheesy as it is and as bad as most of the effects are, I suppose there is some charm that Carpenter brings to the look and simple storytelling.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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This release comes with a matted slip cover<\/strong>. The interior cover is reversible with the original poster artwork.<\/p>\n

Interviews:<\/strong><\/p>\n