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Escape From L.A.: Run Away! Run Away!
Carpenter and Russell are back! And more confused than ever!
Movie Review by: AML
I would like to title/re-title the Nineties as "The Re-Run Decade." This
title is not as accurate as I would like it to be, but it's a little easier
to say than, "The Decade of Re-Hashing Old Themes Just to Make Money and
Fill Space." Among the things that are back, not with a vengeance, but
with a beer belly, are The Sex Pistols, parts of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd
in my opinion, and including the plethora of other re-unions that are
occurring. In regards, to cinematic butcheries of the past, we have been
given The Brady Bunch (two movies, actually), Flipper, The Beverly Hill
Billies, Mission Impossible, The Adams Family (two or three of them?), The
Flintstones, and, again, others which I cannot recall at this time. But
even so, I was still kinda surprised to see Escape From Los Angeles
released.
Even though I had resisted, at times easily, most of the list of
re-unions/re-hashes, I did want to see this movie. Mistake me not,
however, for some fanatic of John Carpenter. I didn't remember much of the
original Escape From New York when I went to see this one and only
Carpenter's more interesting, better-known films remain in my memory. But
something like Escape From Los Angeles is such an obvious ploy for
self-satire and "campiness' that it becomes interesting just on that level.
And such movies have an intrinsic value of a different nature than the
Jane Campion films of the world (and I am curious how she'll handle old
Hank James' Portrait of a Lady).
PROPER CINEMATIC MOOD TO ENJOY AS WELL AS CRITIQUE A FILM OF THIS CALIBER:
Drunk, very. Now, I ask you to take this advise because I went into this
venture sober (I figured it would be useful if I could remember the movie I
was supposed to critique), and I KNOW that if I were properly inebriated I
would have fewer complaints. But, damn it, I have tons of problems with
this flick and I've got the keyboard to rapid fire them with.
Bluntly, Escape From LA is the ultimate of sequels: It rips itself off.
It makes no attempt, whatsoever, to create any new plot or storyline. It
makes one wonder how much real thought (or beer) went into writing this
movie. It's the exact same story as it's predecessor. But, we will need
to make some conversions for the change in location and the time
difference. Let's exchange Snake's beat-up brown leather jacket in favor
of a slick black leather trench coat. Instead of having some gory,
pugilist battle with a big, bald WrestleMania participant (which wouldn't
really be PC nowadays), we'll have a hoop shooting game against time. The
similarities are constant (remember, this is a damn good rip-off), but the
alterations are there as well, all carefully chosen to appeal to the modern
audience. But the movie just isn't campy enough. Again, I have no problem
with self-satire, but I do believe that you still have to go the distance.
I just got the feeling that when they were putting this thing together,
they followed the cinema formulas and left it at that. This, I have a
problem with.
My friends and those of you who are actually reading my column, ask not if
I had, for it was done: I followed up this excursion with renting and
watching the original film. And such a follow up only makes you realize
how bad the sequel really is. If you haven't seen the original yet, it's
not my responsibility to catch you up on your pop culture literacy. Go.
Go now and improve yourself, not with those silly self-help tapes and such,
but by deeply immersing yourself in your great country and the
entertainment that it offers. See the original Escape From New York (and
if you've seen it already, it's always fun to watch again) and save the
sequel for the cheap theaters and a good buzz.
POSTSCRIPT: During this more recent movie bout, I originally planned a
double-bill of sequels, the other sequel being Tremors, Aftershocks.
Unfortunately, like Escape from L.A., it does the original no justice.
Unlike Escape from L.A., there's no redeeming features to this film at all.
That's all that needs to be said about this film.
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