This is the film I originally planned as the third film in my John Carpenter
mini-marathon. It's a film I'd never seen before. I'd heard good things about
it, and it's considered a cult film, so I sat down to watch it with high
expectations. After less than ten minutes I was already disappointed.
The plot: in the near future (1997) Manhattan has been turned into a high
security prison. The tunnels have been closed, and only one bridge is still in
use. The American president's plane, Air Force One, has been hijacked by a
terrorist group. The president is ejected in an escape pod, which lands in
Manhattan. He's captured by criminals who hold him to ransom.
Snake Plissken, a highly decorated war hero, has been arrested after
attempting to rob the Federal Reserve. He's due to be imprisoned for life in
Manhattan, but the police commissioner makes him a deal: if he can rescue the
president he'll be pardoned.
That's a twisted premise. Why would Manhattan of all places be used as a
prison? It's the location of some of America's most valuable real estate,
including the World Trade Center. One of the smaller Hawaian islands would be
more suitable. Manhattan has been chosen so that the locations can be
recognised, albeit in a chaotic, dystopian condition.
And that brings me to why I don't like the film. Dystopian. I don't like films
where society has fallen apart. Mostly this applies to post-apocalyptic films,
the aftermath of a large scale war, but in the case of "Escape From New York"
it's the aftermath of Manhattan being handed over to criminals.
The film has a redeeming feature. Adrienne Barbeau appears as a criminal called Maggie.
At the time the film was made she was married to John Carpenter.
This is John Carpenter's fifth film. There's a progression in the budget, from
his meagre beginnings.
1974 | Dark Star | $60,000 |
1976 | Assault on Precinct 13 | $100,000 |
1978 | Halloween | $300,000 |
1980 | The Fog | $1,100,000 |
1981 | Escape From New York | $6,000,000 |
The simple graph is a screenshot from Excel. If I had
more time I'd draw it by hand to make it look better, but I think it's
sufficient to show how much money he had available. Does the extra money mean
an increase in quality? Definitely not. If you read my reviews you'll see that
I rated the first three films five stars, "The Fog" four stars, and "Escape
From New York" two stars. The quality is inversely proportional to the budget.
Someone should have taken John Carpenter's money away. That's the only way his
films could have been improved.
Success Rate: + 2.2
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