The year is 1997. The whole of New York is one giant walled-off prison, the president has been taken hostage and it’s up to rugged anti-hero Snake Plissken to save the day. The catch is that he’s got a bomb implanted inside him, and if he doesn’t get the president out safely in the next 24 hours, he goes boom! It’s been nearly 40 years since John Carpenter’s Escape From New York burst onto our screens, and even now it still holds up as a cult masterpiece thanks to its dark humour, building suspense and great characters.
Carpenter’s vision of a future where America has thrown all of its criminals into one island where they are free to create their own society, complete with their own set of rules and authority, has to be one of the most adroit and unique piece of world-building yet realised on film. This dystopian New York is dark and grim with the seedy and corrupt of society all collected together in this desolate and bleak place of class separation where danger lurks around every corner. On a minimal budget, Carpenter has created a perfectly-crafted nightmarish fascist world that also contains a subtle satirical edge to it, and hats off to Joe Alves for his flawless production design. Frankly, it would come as no surprise if Rocksteady Games took that concept and utilised it in their Batman: Arkham City game! The film goes at a brisk pace and the dark atmosphere helps generate that sense of mystery, intrigue, isolation, and destruction.
Central protagonist Snake Plissken is the traditional anti-hero, akin to Clint Eastwood’s Man-With-No-Name archetype, and is a walking ball of rage that is dead-set on survival at all cost. This is a man who fought for his country but has everything taken away from him in return, so he decided to take it back. Now, he’s on a mission to save a man he doesn’t care about, just so he can survive the bomb implanted in him by the government that is responsible for sending him on what is basically a suicide mission. Plissken is superbly portrayed by the legendary Kurt Russell, being able to convey a lot with little dialogue as well as giving off a suitably menacing and somewhat sardonic quality that makes him the perfect, grumpy badass to root for.
Escape From New York is a timeless cult classic and is up there with Halloween and The Thing as one of John Carpenter’s best movies to date. That dirty netherworld of crime is realised brilliantly, the pacing is tight, the narrative is taut, and the characters are memorable, especially Kurt Russell’s pitch perfect Snake. People were curious as to what this movie would’ve looked like had it received a bigger budget, but Carpenter responded to those queries with the infamous Escape From L.A., a film Carpenter himself claimed was better than the original, but in actuality was a film that was so bad that it was hilarious. By having a lower budget, it allowed the production team to be more creative and inventive within their limitations, and the results speak for themselves. With the film getting a Ultra HD 4K release very soon, now is the perfect time to give this gem a spin.
Extras: Purgatory: Entering John Carpenter’s Escape From New York documentary, Snake Plissken: Man of Honor, Deleted Opening Sequence, Photo gallery, Original Trailers, Audio Commentary with Kurt Russell and John Carpenter, Audio Commentary with Debra Hill and Joe Alves, Big Challenges in Little Manhattan (visual effects featurette), I Am Taylor (interview with Joe Unger), Audio Commentary with Adrienne Barbeau & Dean Cundey, poster, art cards, 48-page book.
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: JOHN CARPENTER / SCREENPLAY: JOHN CARPENTER, NICK CASTLE / STARRING: KURT RUSSELL, LEE VAN CLEEF, ERNEST BORGNINE, DONALD PLEASENCE / RELEASE DATE: 28TH NOVEMBER
