Escape from New York (1981)

 

Escape from New York (1981)

 

5/10

Starring

Kurt Russell

Lee Van Cleef

Ernest Borgnine

Donald Pleasence

Isaac Hayes

 

Directed by John Carpenter

 

I have to be honest, the only thing I knew about this movie before watching it is that the lead character, Snake Plissken, played by Kurt Russell, was the inspiration behind the video game character Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid franchise.

The movie has one of the most boring starts there is. It gives you the setup: the President of the U.S. has been captured, so they need Snake to rescue him. All this takes about 25 minutes to be passed across to you, the viewer. During this wait, you get to see the most boring stand-offs, wasted time in staring and looking mean, all trying to pass the “bad guy will not follow simple orders” macho vibe — which did not matter at all.

The movie is written, directed, and scored by John Carpenter. Based on a modest budget, Carpenter did his best to pass across a futuristic environment using as many cinematic effects and tricks as he could to try and lure you in.

The movie takes place in 1997, where in this future as the movie was shot in 1981, the world has changed. Crime is at an all-time high, and the whole of Manhattan Island is now a maximum-security prison, walled off from the rest of the world. The president’s plane gets hijacked and crashes into the island, but he escapes in a pod. The criminals in the city capture him, and when Commissioner Bob tries to investigate the crash, he is approached by one of the minions of the top guy in the prison, Duke. Bob is told that they have the president and will kill him if any rescue attempt is made. Bob asks what their demands are, but none are given, so he has to find another way to get the president out, and he has to do this in 24 hours.

So he calls convicted former Special Forces soldier Snake Plissken, who is about to be imprisoned in Manhattan, as he's the nearest person with the right skills they can get their hands on at short notice. Snake has to get into Manhattan, find the president, and bring him to safety.

The catch is, Snake has to do this in 22 hours. He has a watch with a timer, and capsules in his neck that will kill him if he doesn’t return to Bob in time.

As much as I didn’t like all the bravado at the start, Russell did a great job with his macho-man performance. The movie has a way of sucking you in once you get over the slow start. That bad pacing almost made me stop watching, and the whole B-movie feel was also a turn-off.

But the suspense kept me. At first, I was like, was it that easy to find the president? Then I’d meet a character I thought would last, and suddenly they’re gone. Things like that kept my attention just to see how it would all end.

One thing I have to warn you about is the dialogue, it’s very flimsy. Also, the movie’s progression doesn’t add up, make sense, or follow any real logic. If you see the movie, you’ll get what I mean. From the moment Snake lands in Manhattan, his movements, conversations, progress toward finding the president, and how he gets people to help him — all that just isn’t well written.

Would I recommend this movie, well, No. I think this is one of those movie’s that if you saw back when it was released, you may like it, but not now.