| Escape From L.A (1996) Cast:Kurt Russell, Stacy Keach,Pam Grier, George Corraface,Steve Buscemi,Peter Fonda, Cliff Robertson,Bruce Campbell Kurt Russell stars as Snake Plissken who is this time asked to retrieve a doomsday device from LA when it falls into the wrong hands, so once again Plissken and his friends battle Corraface who wants to take over the world and in the process Russell and co run into many weird people in this disasterous sequel. If there's any interesting about this film, it's that Roger Ebert actually liked this better than Escape From New York and that's about all that is interesting. Kurt Russell is in good form but this movie doesn't use him well and the movie is defeated by the lame villains on both sides. Cliff Robertson, George Corraface and Stacy Keach aren't nearly as fun as Donald Pleasance, Lee Van Cleef and Issac Hayes and the comic relief provided by Buscemi isn't nearly as funny as Ernest Borgnine was. Pam Grier, Peter Fonda, Robert Carradine and Bruce Campbell are wasted.The action sequences are routine and are always overblown and absurd. (The surfing scene is utterly stupid) Last but not least is how much Carpenter just seems to have lost his talent and verve in directing action and suspense, he seems to rush things and stage everything indifferently. The only interesting part is when Russell is forced to make ten baskets or die, but that alone can't save this and Escape From L.A is one of the worst things Carpenter has ever done. .D.John Carpenter * |