I knew this movie was in trouble when I watched Kurt Russell appear on a talk show months before it opened. The host asked him why he was growing his hair out. Kurt smiled at the audience and said "getting ready to play Snake!" He was expecting cheers and applause. He was met with the air conditioning clicking on.
Then the week it opened, he was promoting EFLA on Jay Leno. They went to the surfing scene, and Kurt looked like an uncomfortable salesman demonstrating a product he knows nobody wants. When the scene was over, the audience reacted with polite, strained applause.
Not that this really bothered me. Escape from New York was one of those movies that I loved and most people hadn't heard of. I liked it that way. I did, however, want to see the sequel succeed and maybe launch a franchise.
Didn't happen.
A movie I had been waiting for most of my childhood/teenage years finally arrived and landed like a big, wet turd on the sidewalk. Critics hated it, nobody went to see it, and I couldn't blame them one bit. I wanted to like the movie. i really did. But I couldn't. I found the effects awful, the acting lame, the action scenes totally lifeless (not to mention ridiculous and stupid), and the whole movie a flatly shot, lazy retread of the first . I left the theater seething and hating John Carpenter.
I still can't say that I like the movie. I still think all the things above. But I have come to appreciate some other aspects of EFLA. The current state of politics probably has a lot to do with it. I've always loved John Carpenter's movies, but is the guy psychic too? Islam illegal, all moral undesirables outlawed, etc...Patriot Act in ten more years? A religious nut for a president...Robertson even looks like Bush. A Police controlled population...we're on our way. As I watched this again (I finally forked over $5 for the DVD - the only Carpenter film I didn't own) I began to see some of the brilliance in this movie. I'll bet the screenplay read a lot better than this movie was executed.
I still don't get the cheesiness of it - the original was serious as a heart attack and so much more subtle. This is a clunky, over the top satire that to me sits uncomfortably next to EFNY.
I do love that ending though. American Spirit baby.
Then the week it opened, he was promoting EFLA on Jay Leno. They went to the surfing scene, and Kurt looked like an uncomfortable salesman demonstrating a product he knows nobody wants. When the scene was over, the audience reacted with polite, strained applause.
Not that this really bothered me. Escape from New York was one of those movies that I loved and most people hadn't heard of. I liked it that way. I did, however, want to see the sequel succeed and maybe launch a franchise.
Didn't happen.
A movie I had been waiting for most of my childhood/teenage years finally arrived and landed like a big, wet turd on the sidewalk. Critics hated it, nobody went to see it, and I couldn't blame them one bit. I wanted to like the movie. i really did. But I couldn't. I found the effects awful, the acting lame, the action scenes totally lifeless (not to mention ridiculous and stupid), and the whole movie a flatly shot, lazy retread of the first . I left the theater seething and hating John Carpenter.
I still can't say that I like the movie. I still think all the things above. But I have come to appreciate some other aspects of EFLA. The current state of politics probably has a lot to do with it. I've always loved John Carpenter's movies, but is the guy psychic too? Islam illegal, all moral undesirables outlawed, etc...Patriot Act in ten more years? A religious nut for a president...Robertson even looks like Bush. A Police controlled population...we're on our way. As I watched this again (I finally forked over $5 for the DVD - the only Carpenter film I didn't own) I began to see some of the brilliance in this movie. I'll bet the screenplay read a lot better than this movie was executed.
I still don't get the cheesiness of it - the original was serious as a heart attack and so much more subtle. This is a clunky, over the top satire that to me sits uncomfortably next to EFNY.
I do love that ending though. American Spirit baby.