"Escape from New York" may be told in a somewhat by-the-numbers fashion but is a lot more than that. Upon closer examination of the films story and characters, you will see that it is showing us a frightening depiction of what America could have become had not our society improved. It's completely ironic that we would have ended up choosing New York City (and later Los Angeles in the sequel), which in this country are landmark cities, as the last place to house America's worst criminals. With all of the problems currently facing our society, is this what things could have eventually come to?
"Escape from New York" is set in the future, in the year 1997. We learn that Manhattan Island has become a giant maximum-security prison. It is completely surrounded on all sides by a fifty-foot containment wall that has soldiers patrolling it at all times. All roads and waterways that lead off of the island are mined. The prison itself is kept under constant watch from security headquarters, which is stationed at nearby Liberty Island. Everyone in the prison follows one simple rule: once you go in, you don't come out. When Air Force One, which we should all know is the president's airplane, is hijacked and crash lands inside the prison, the security officials in charge blackmail a hardened but highly decorated war hero who is currently on his way to the island to serve a life sentence for a daring robbery. His mission is to infiltrate the prison and safely escort the president and the tape recording in his possession off of the island. To ensure that the convict doesn't try to escape, two micro-charges are injected into his arteries that if he doesn't get the president back within twenty-two hours, will explode. If he does succeed, the charges will be deactivated and all crimes he has been convicted of will be fully pardoned. And so the adventure begins...
From here we really don't know what to expect of this film and that's good. You'd probably be expecting to hear car horns or the sounds of a city that is alive and full of people. When we first see New York, it looks a lot like a ghost town, meaning as in dead. The city is crawling with rapists, thieves and murderers. Things in the city have become so bad, that some groups of people, most notably the "crazies" who are a group of underground subway-dwellers, have had to resort to cannibalism to survive. The "new" New York is not a prison at all, but more of an asylum for the worst of the worst. People here are basically living out death sentences, as that is the equivalent of saying these people are serving out life sentences. It is really nice that the prison gives you the option of being executed on site, rather than dying somewhere inside the prison where you'll probably end up becoming someone's lunch. Which would you prefer?
Snake Plissken, played here by Kurt Russell, was an excellent choice to play a reluctant hero. He plays his role very good. Singer Isaac Hayes makes a great villain here with his role as The Duke of New York. He is very good too. It amazes me though about how a man such as himself could have come to power and become the most feared man in "new" New York.
"Escape from New York" is an excellent film that has received a much deserved cult following. This John Carpenter film is easily one of his best and I really like it.
"Escape from New York" is set in the future, in the year 1997. We learn that Manhattan Island has become a giant maximum-security prison. It is completely surrounded on all sides by a fifty-foot containment wall that has soldiers patrolling it at all times. All roads and waterways that lead off of the island are mined. The prison itself is kept under constant watch from security headquarters, which is stationed at nearby Liberty Island. Everyone in the prison follows one simple rule: once you go in, you don't come out. When Air Force One, which we should all know is the president's airplane, is hijacked and crash lands inside the prison, the security officials in charge blackmail a hardened but highly decorated war hero who is currently on his way to the island to serve a life sentence for a daring robbery. His mission is to infiltrate the prison and safely escort the president and the tape recording in his possession off of the island. To ensure that the convict doesn't try to escape, two micro-charges are injected into his arteries that if he doesn't get the president back within twenty-two hours, will explode. If he does succeed, the charges will be deactivated and all crimes he has been convicted of will be fully pardoned. And so the adventure begins...
From here we really don't know what to expect of this film and that's good. You'd probably be expecting to hear car horns or the sounds of a city that is alive and full of people. When we first see New York, it looks a lot like a ghost town, meaning as in dead. The city is crawling with rapists, thieves and murderers. Things in the city have become so bad, that some groups of people, most notably the "crazies" who are a group of underground subway-dwellers, have had to resort to cannibalism to survive. The "new" New York is not a prison at all, but more of an asylum for the worst of the worst. People here are basically living out death sentences, as that is the equivalent of saying these people are serving out life sentences. It is really nice that the prison gives you the option of being executed on site, rather than dying somewhere inside the prison where you'll probably end up becoming someone's lunch. Which would you prefer?
Snake Plissken, played here by Kurt Russell, was an excellent choice to play a reluctant hero. He plays his role very good. Singer Isaac Hayes makes a great villain here with his role as The Duke of New York. He is very good too. It amazes me though about how a man such as himself could have come to power and become the most feared man in "new" New York.
"Escape from New York" is an excellent film that has received a much deserved cult following. This John Carpenter film is easily one of his best and I really like it.