Rating: 
Summary: If You Watch Closely, You'll Recognize It's A Sequel/Remake
Review: When I first saw this movie, I didn't really like it. But, for some reason, after I watched 'Escape from New York', and rented, 'John Carpenter's Escape from L.A.' I really liked it after all. I guess sometimes to only understand a sequel, is to really watch the original.The main part I recognized about this film was the character development. John Carpenter didn't really think of new characters. He just took people from his original hit, and changed their personalities. In the first one there was a guy named "Brain". I didn't really understand his involvement of the film. In 'Escape from L.A.' Pam Grier plays a transvestite, who is similar to "Brain". If you really didn't like this movie, but haven't seen the first one. Then I would suggest renting the first one, first. Then see how you feel about the sequel...No guarantees, though!
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible. Just....horrible.
Review: I first saw this movie in theaters when it came out a few years back and had really high hopes for the movie. I had been told time and time again how cool the first film was and read a few reviews saying that this film was just as good, and as I sat in the theater I wondered what kind of drugs the critics who liked this movie were on to have written positive reviews of it. This is easily one of the 10 worst movies I have ever had the misfortune of having to sit through. The script is horrible, the acting is horrible, the effects work is horrible, the direction is horrible, the [are we noticing a pattern here yet fellow readers?] movie is painfully horrible. I can not believe this movie got made with the script it had, nor can I believe that anyone could have seen this film and enjoyed it except for 11 year old boys who enjoy anything that has violence.
Rating: 
Summary: Pre-Apocalyptic Pleasure
Review: Whew. I love this movie even more than the original Escape From New York. Both are great works of speculative urban action (did I just make that phrase up?) with tense, clock-racing suspense. It is true that Escape From L.A is more a rewritting of Escape From New York but if it wasn't then it wouldn't be called Escape From L.A. They would have titled it Snake's Vacation or something. Many people just got too attached to the original that they couldn't enjoy the film for what it is. I don't quite consider this movie a sequel. The Escape duology is, to me, more like a couple of stand-alone films that take place in different dimensions. I believe the reason it took so long to make this film is they wanted to wait until it was the year depicted in Escape From New York (1997). it make sense when you think about it. I do agree, however, that the surfing scene is pretty lame looking but understandably so. Bruce Campbell as a wonderful cameo appearance as the Surgeon general. I still love to watch the DVD of Evil Dead II where Bruce recounts his work with Kurt Russel on this film. I was hoping that this DVD would have a Russel commentary on it so I might have heard him speak of Bruce in the same manner. Alas they skipped on special features. The best part of the movie was the ending. The ultimate revenge of Snake for all the crappy jobs he's been forced into taking for the greater "good." I loved it very much. "Welcome to the Human race." Good-bye, folks!
Rating:
Summary: WATCH ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK FIRST!
Review: if you decide to watch this movie WATCH ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK FIRST! the last time i saw escape from new york was about 13 years ago. and i forgot alot about the movie. later on i seen this movie(escape from L.A) and i thought hey this is a pretty cool sequel.till i seen escape from new york again. this movie is a exact copy of escape from new york. if they could of only have snake say he's tired of doing work for the united states police in escape from L.A maybe i could of gave this movie some credit. do your self a favor watch escape from new york first before you see this movie
Rating:
Summary: The most enjoyable film I've seen
Review: People who think that Carpenter ruined a classic film obviously don't know what they're talking about.Escape from LA is one of the most entertaining,enjoyable,colorful film's I've ever seen and it puts some action films to shame.It isn't perfect and it is cheesy but intentionally so.The scenes and dialogue are fast-paced and never slow down.Personally,I think "LA" is what "New York" should have been,and the 1981 version looks slow,boring and bleak compared to his.So just enjoy,and stop looking for Shakespeare.
Rating:
Summary: Disapointing
Review: Escape from L.A. suffered most from the 'could've beens.' This could've been a good, original movie, if they'd put some thought into the basic premise, instead of making a retread of Escape from New York. Most of the charaters and situations come off as watered down versions of the orginals, and some of the effects look truly bad. Why three stars? It does have it's moments and is endearing in a cheesy sort of way. And Snake is still Snake.
Rating:
Summary: Criminally Underrated....
Review: John Carpenter is perhaps the most underrated filmmaker of the past twenty years. One only needs to look backward to his previous body of work to understand this fact.Films like Halloween (1978), The Thing (1982) and Prince of Darkness (1987) all recieved critical lambasting upon their initial releases but have shown the test of time. All of these films are now regarded as Carpenter classics.In recent years, Carpenter has had no better luck with his body of work. Memoirs of an Invisble Man, In the Mouth of Madness, Village of the Damned and his most recent Vampires have all slowly been turning into audience favorites despite all being box office failures during the past decade.With that in mind, it has to be said, that none of John Carpenter's films have been as overlooked or misunderstood as his 1996 follow up to his classic Escape From New York (1981). Escape From L.A. is truly a great film, a sharp, anarchistic follow up which plays out as more of a reworking of the orignal film, but with lots of wild moments and some truly colorful characters.This one opens in 2013 where Los Angeles has suffered a terrible earthquake and separates from the rest of the country. The United States is much more strict in the future, citizens are no longer allowed to have sex, drink, do drugs, smoke cigarettes or eat red meat. Those that do are the ones stripped of their citizenship and banished to the island prison of L.A.When the President's daughter becomes a criminal and steals a top secret weapon from the US and flees to the island of LA, everybody's favorite anti-hero Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is once again forced to go in after her and bring the weapon back. Russell's Snake is a great character, he's a lone gunsinger wandering the new 'Old West', he doesn't want to be the hero, but keeps winding playing that role. Russell continues to have Snake do a constant Clint Eastwood impression, it works well here as Snake reluctantly explores L.A. desperately searching for the President's daughter and the weapon which is his ticket back.Carpenter isn't taking any of this too seriously, but his satrical screenplay comes off well, and the film is loaded with colorful characters played by familiar faces. Pam Grier, Peter Fonda, Bruce Campbell and Steve Buschemi all turn in great, however small roles. This comes off as a silly action film, but looking beneath the surface, Carpenter raises many important issues concerning our freedom and rights of individuality. One can actually take this all as a warning of sorts, how much longer until our county is exactly like this? Escape From L.A. went virtually unnoticed at the box office a few years back and only a few critics got the joke here, now that all the buzz has died down, everybody should give this winning combination of social satire and blazing action film a second chance. It's just another great film from another great director whose work only gets better with age.
Rating:
Summary: Escape from this movie
Review: John Carpenter used to be my favorite director. The very mention of Halloween, The Thing, Escape from New York or even The Fog and Memoirs of an Invisible Man would send chills up my spine. Even when he would stumble a bit (Prince of Darkness, In the Mouth of Madness, They Live), it was still a little entertaining...until his latest losing streak involving Village of the Damned, Vampires, and this awful mess. Don't cut corners out of respect for him, this movie was an insult to the original. I wish Hollywood would declare a moratorium on lousy computer generated effects. The original was very cheap and understated, but here some of the scenes moved so badly, or a character was so poorly written, I had to avert my eyes. I saw the ending coming a mile away. I was so disappointed in this, and so should any Carpenter fan.
Rating:
Summary: Sequals Are Not Easy To Make.
Review: It's not an easy task to make a successful follow up to an already growing cult classic. I guess being one of those few people that saw this film in the movie theaters, it's hard to say why it was not better received. The remade Main Title sequence was very nice, giving us a feel for the older film, yet making the beat faster and adding more bite to the piece with drums and electric guitars ect. The special effects of the original, though commendable at the time they were made, cannot hold a candle to the eye-popping visuals you get here, such as the holographic sequences as well as Snakes underwater trip to L.A. I also keep asking myself which challenge I enjoy Snake in more? Fighting the wrestler with bats and trashcan lids in New York or making enough basketball shots before the time clock expires with death following in L.A. Personally I can't decide. I enjoyed them both. But the one thing that L.A. lacks is depth, there just isn't enough. I can't help but think of the wonderful scene in 'New York where Maggie (Adrienne Barbeau) looks to the ground to see that her lover, Brain(Harry Dean Stanton), has been killed with Snake looking at her, saying "Come on.....he's dead.", with a touch of compassion and understanding as she looks to him with this look on her face and puts her hand out, silently asking for a gun, to which he gives her one. To me that is a very powerful scene and unfortunately there really isn't anything in the new film that comes close to this, even the scene involving actress Valeria Golino seems forced. People's deaths in this film seem like no big deal whereas in 'New York it went much deeper than that with Snake asking the President how he felt about the fact that many people died to save him only to get a rather obtuse reply in return. Escape From L.A. is not a bad movie. Steve Buscemi steals many scenes as the wise cracking tour guide and Pam Grier and Stacy Keach also add nice touches. Plus the surfing sequence with Peter Fonda is a lot of fun too. But if you're expecting another Escape From New York, you will be disappointed. This DVD should also include more extras than just the theatrical trailer, which is nice though. An audio commentary with John Carpenter and Kurt Russel would go perfect with the one they did for the original and The Thing. And what about the HBO First Look at Escape From L.A. featurette? Paramount needs to start giving us more than just trailers, especially at these prices.
Rating: 
Summary: Believe it or not...it kinda works.
Review: In Escape from New York, Snake Plissken battles ruthless prison inmates, elements of a corrupt government, and miniature time-bomb implants that mean certain death if he can't escape the city in time. In Escape from L.A., Snake Plissken goes hangliding, plays basketball, and surfs. What more can I say?
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