Allan Watched "Escape From New York"

John Carpenter’s Escape from New York has a premise I enjoyed, but is a product that left me not feeling much of anything. The small patches of action do not make up for long periods of empty dialog and bizarre, plotless developments.

Gut Feeling

I don’t know, man. John Carpenter is an enigma, and Escape from New York gives you the best and worst he had to offer in the early 80’s as he emerged as an influential filmmaker. Clearly inferior to Halloween and The Fog, Escape from New York is a sloshing of an interesting premise mashed with a confusing and uninspiring script. It’s not that I was bored, because I had interest in how it would end and if his neck eggs would explode, but how they went plot point to plot point felt…bleh.

Strong Characters, Weak Script

Don’t get me wrong, Kurt Russel is the man, and Snake is a bad-ass character. But there is so much more they could have gotten out of compelling characters like The Duke, Brain, and Maggie. Isaac Hayes (more famously a songwriter and musician, “Soul Man”, etc.) is dominant in the scenes he is in, and is a really great villain, but we are exposed to so little of him that it’s hard to care how his story ends. Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog, Swamp Thing, Argo) lands a powerful punch in her few action moments, but her character kind of floats around Brain. Harry Dean Stanton (Alien, a thousand other movies) gives perhaps the best performance of the movie, and Brain gives the story a rare character of depth among the muck.

Was There Music?

Snoooooozeeeefest. Besides the opening credits, which is a sick early-80’s jam-fest with a cool dystopian New York City as the backdrop, the rest of the music really doesn’t add much. I can’t even remember any other times I found the music interesting, with the exception of maybe the final moments as “Bandstand Boogie” plays. Carpenter co-scored it, for whatever that’s worth.

Random Thoughts

• The movie needs 100% more Cabbie. I love a good all-knowing lunatic.

• I found the environment of NYC as a maximum security, post-apocalyptic hellhole to work, but its great setting is kind of wasted.

• I laughed HARD when they found the President with a wig. Bizarre and fun.

• Frank Doubleday as Romero is the most indescribably weird character I have come across. I hated him and loved him.

• I have no idea why the movie had to be set in the “future”. It is only 17 years later. It adds nothing besides Carpenter trying to make a point about Vietnam, maybe? Idk man.

Quick Hits:

How many times have I seen this movie?

First time beginning to end. I had seen the ending before.

Where was I watching it?

Doing work on my couch, dumbfounded by my inability to make sense of most of it.

Did Kellye Watch it? If Yes, did she like it. If no, would she like it?

No, and I think she would have felt the same way. Kellye gets more joy out of bizarre-o stuff sometimes, and she also would’ve laughed at the President in the wig.

Favorite fact I learned from Wikipedia

There’s an Escape from New York board game. Y?

Favorite part

First and last sequences are pretty dope. Also, when the doctor swabs Snake’s arm, and then proceeds to stick the needles in his neck.

Least favorite part

Snake kisses that random woman who then has nothing to do with the rest of the movie after talking for maybe 8 seconds?

Would I recommend this movie and why?

There are so many movies that attempt whatever this was, so try another one.

So What Does Allan Give It?

One Thumbs up. Overall, a score of 55. I feel nothing. But Snake is still cool.