Escape from New York

Carpenter’s precise B-movie hit demands that you not think about the wider context of the story and instead adapt to the requirements of low-brow entertainment, but the director will pay you back with interest. Kurt Russell is great and is accompanied by a host of top-acting talent and, despite the occasional silliness, this is pure filmmaking that, even within its premise, can be taken pretty seriously. The uncontrolled “trash” fun will come with the sequel. 75% (24/03/2020)

Typical John Carpenter’s madness set in an insanely looking New York as big prison, with tasteless and uninspiring action scenes, and characters that look like they've just had a stroke. The whole thing looks like one big fetish flick. We have a boxing ring, pseudo-futuristic machines, the World Trade Center, where a glider can land, all of that crowned by a tough and taciturn hero played by Kurt Russell, whom everyone knows and nobody calls anything other than Snake. It's crazy nonsense, but entertaining at times. The script is practically nonexistent and the plot is also nothing special. The only thing that stands out is precisely the cheapness and wackiness of the whole project, which is basically Carpenter's main weapon to impress the audience. (13/07/2006)

Carpenter’s famous cult movie didn’t work on me. The atmosphere is fine, Russell is tough as nails, but the very premise of Manhattan as a prison (that was set up god knows why) is very silly. I know looking for logic in films of this kind is nonsense, but in Escape from New York all those inconsistencies were way too evident. (07/07/2011)

The president’s plane crashes in Manhattan, which is a giant self-governing prison, and the biggest tough mudafucka with an eye patch has 24 hours to get him out of there like FTW. If I'd known this movie when I was a kid, I wouldn't have made it out of third grade. And I'd probably starve to death in front of the video. The ideal cure for a creative crisis, I think, would be just listening to kids play on a road carpet. (24/09/2020)

I understand that with a film that's 38 years old, I can't set my expectations too high, but I was still quite disappointed. I’m a big fan of Carpenter as a director; I will never stop praising The Thing, but this one didn’t quite meet expectations. The idea of a prison on Manhattan appealed to me; it had something to it, and I could overlook the plot element of rescuing the American president as the main focus of the story. Yes, it's not innovative at all, but on the other hand, such a plot was typical of many action films of that era, so I don't think it’s fair to hold that against this film. Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken was intentionally over-the-top in the script, which actually suited his character, so I don’t see a problem there either. However, the execution faltered; at times it felt almost like a theatrical production, which isn’t my cup of tea. The plot moved forward very slowly, and the climax with crossing the booby-trapped bridge felt more amusing than serious. I understand that many people consider it a classic. Maybe I needed to be born at that time; to me, it seemed like a complete brain drain that made less and less sense as the minutes went by. But definitely check it out just for Russell and form your own opinion. I give it 51%. (03/07/2019)