a5c7b9f00b After 1988, the U.S. turned Manhattan, New York into a maximum security prison where the most brutal criminals are residing for life, due to the 400% rise in crime rates. There's no way for them to escape, as the bridges are filled with mines, a large wall is built around the shoreline, and a police force army is based there to take out any attempted escapees. In 1997, Air Force One is hijacked, so the president escapes in a pod, landing in Manhattan. Ex-special forces war hero/bank robber Snake Plissken is offered his freedom if he can rescue the president, who was on his way to a Hartford Summit meeting as well as a cassette tape (CDs weren't around in 1981) that contains important information regarding Nuclear Fission within 24 hours. Just to make sure he goes through the mission, Snake has been implanted with two microscopic capsules that will explode within 24 hours, meaning that he'll be dead if he's a little late. In 1997, when the U.S. president crashes into Manhattan, now a giant maximum security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in to rescue him. I have to say, although Carpenter is mainly associated with the horror genre, I prefer him as a director of a few great action movies. Having previously given us the superbly chilling ‘Assault on Precinct 13' Carpenter offers us this perhaps accurate look at the future.<br/><br/>1997 - Manhattan Island has now been turned into a maximum security prison due to the alarmingly high escalation of crime. The police are encamped around the island like the military but inside there is no law, just the world the prisoners create for themselves. After a plane carrying the President of the United States (Donald Pleasance) is hijacked and brought down inside the compounds of the island future prisoner and ex-soldier Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is offered a pardon if he rescues the President and more importantly a valuable tape. To ensure his co-operation and eliminate his chance of escape Plissken is fitted with a small explosive that will detonate and kill him unless he completes the mission and rescues the tape inside 24 hours.<br/><br/>The film looks very dated these days, aside from the fact that we are now past 1997, the computer equipment featured and the general quality of the print (at least the one I viewed) makes the film look old. However, that does hardly anything to harm ‘Escape from New York'. In the same vein as ‘Assault on Precinct 13' there is no over-the-top Hollywood style action but instead shorter and more controlled action sequences that in some ways impress more than the lengthy and firey action sequences of Hollywood movies. ‘Escape from New York' in some ways takes on a thriller feel as we wait to see whether Snake can rescue the President on time or if he can even find the President amongst the now crime-run desolate streets of New York. The movie is gripping and Snake Plissken is one of the few truly interesting action movie characters. Snake isn't really a good guy yet the audience is still made to sympathise with him and support his cause.<br/><br/>For anyone who doubts Kurt Russell's acting abilities I suggest you watch this film. In the same way that the character of The Terminator seems like it was written for Arnie, the character of Snake Plissken is made his own by an excellent performance from Kurt Russell. Russell is supported by quite a strong cast and the performance from Isaac Hayes as the Duke of New York is worthy of recognition as one of the best portrayals of a villain in the last thirty years. The only problem with the cast I had was the casting of Donald Pleasance as the President of the United States. It might just be me but I think Donald just sounds a little too British to be playing the role of the President. Credit though where it is due, Mr. Pleasance certainly gave it his all for the role and played it quite well.<br/><br/>This is definitely worth a watch for action fans. Some may be disappointed by the lack of gunfights and explosions but this is still a very adept action-thriller. With so many memorable lines and scenes I think that any movie fan, especially those of ‘Assault on Precinct 13' and early John Carpenter, should make it a personal mission to check out this movie. My rating for ‘Escape from New York' – 8/10. Maybe I am crazy, or I have horrible taste in movies. This movie has a 7+ rating in IMDb. I could not believe my own eyes. This is just plain simple ridiculous.<br/><br/>This movie is a disaster or should I call it the mother of disaster. Script is horrible, the plot is full of holes, the lighting was worse, the set was silly. And the hero talks like as if he has a very bad case of constipation. Maybe the director thought it would be macho to talk like that but it definitely was not. Another funny thing was the chief of police was wearing a earring, and acting like he was doing something when all he was doing sitting on a chair in front of a microphone.<br/><br/>This movie has nothing, no suspense, no twist, no romance, no action, no comedy, no drama, not even attractive actor or actresses. Do not waste your time in this movie, no matter how high is the rating is. It's a toughly told, very tall tale, one of the best escape (and escapist) movies of the season. The most logical reason is that he did it in retaliation. He felt cheated by Hauk because he was not told about the explosive charges in his neck until AFTER he agreed to take on the mission and the injection, and thereby endangering his life. This is the same as his motive for doing a similar thing in <a href="/title/tt0116225/">Escape from L.A. (1996)</a> when he shuts down the Earth. In the sequel Snake tells the President, "You better hope I don't make it back." Another reason could be that Snake broke the tape out of respect for those who helped him escape and who died: Cabbie, Maggie, and Brain. Keep in mind, the President (Donald Pleasance) wasn't too appreciative of the others (saying only that they did a "service to their country"), and was more worried about how he was going to look on TV to address the summit leaders. And of course, it could be that being the cynical anti-hero that Snake is, he really doesn't give a f*. The contents of the tape are never explicitly revealed in the movie, but we can make certain assumptions.<br/><br/>Hauk states that the United States is at war, and that the President was on his way to a summit called the Hartford Summit. China and the Soviet Union are waiting at the summit, so the implication is that (in the movie's alternate future) the U.S. is at war with them. Hauk says that the President's arrival is "critical to the fate of the human race," so the summit is most likely a last-ditch effort to put an end to World War III, an all-out nuclear war. Without the President and the tape, Hauk says, the representatives of China and the Soviet Union will go back to their countries, presumably to continue fighting the war.<br/><br/>One possibility is that the tape contains the speech that the President was going to deliver at the Summit. That seems unlikely, since there's no reason the President couldn't have improvised a new speech containing the basic theme of the old one. Besides, the President could have written the speech down instead of recording it on a tape, and his staff would have had a copy of the speech.<br/><br/>When Snake asks what is on the tape, Hauk replies by asking Snake what he knows about cold fusion. Cold fusion was, at the time of the movie's production, a theoretical process to create unlimited energy. At one point in the cab, a brief portion of the tape is played. The voice on the tape describes radioactive elements before it's shut off. So we know the contents of the tape are related to nuclear technology.<br/><br/>This leaves two possibilities. One is that the tape's recording contains a description of some revolutionary form of nuclear power which the President is sharing with the Communist nations. Giving the technology to the enemy might be a goodwill gesture or revealing the technology might have been a condition of Russia and China's appearance at the summit. Another possibility might be that the tape describes all of the nuclear secrets of the United States. Revealing these secrets might be (again) a goodwill gesture to the enemy or part of the terms of the summit. Either way, the President failing to deliver the technology ends all hope of the summits success.<br/><br/>But the boring answer is that it really doesn't matter what was on the tape in the briefcase, as the tape and the briefcase is a 'MacGuffin', a plot device to get the story going. There is a fan-made one called <a href="/title/tt1753790/">Escape from New Jersey (2010)</a>. Set Straight after Escape From New York, we find Snake Plissken stuck in New Jersey with his new found freedom on the line when his path crosses that of Armando Barone, the crime kingpin of the Garden State. With his Presidential pardon in Barone's grasp, Snake is once again forced to re-steal the money that got him sent to New York Prison in the first place. Can Snake pull off the job? Will he ever truly be free? But more importantly, can he escape New Jersey? This one is directed by a fan of the original two movies <a href="/name/nm2031205/">Chris R. Notarile</a> and stars <a href="/name/nm4142591/">Hector De La Rosa</a> as Snake.