You might have thought he was dead, but Snake Plissken is back! This time he’s been put on Blu-ray and 1981 couldn’t look any better.
If you’re not familiar with the storyline then let me enlighten you. When the President of the United States ejects from Airforce One after it’s hijacked, he ends up in a maximum security prison; New York City. Desperate to get him out, especially since world peace at a summit is at stake with Russia and China, the military calls upon the help of a recent criminal named Snake Plissken. Having served in special ops and gone on many missions, Plissken is all too familiar with the odds against him. Still, it’s either help out the military or spend a lifetime in prison; really a no-brainer.
This is probably one of the best periods in John Carpenter’s life. Having made Halloween and The Thing, Carpenter was on a roll with his career and Escape from New York was something truly special. Having a badass character like Snake Plissken comes along once in a blue moon. He didn’t need to define himself through catchy words like other 80s action films tended to do. Plissken brought all the badness, The seriousness, the character through the talent of Kurt Russell and the brilliant direction of John Carpenter. Sure there was campy dialogue through minor characters, but Russell’s Plissken never missed a beat and never broke out of his role; not for one moment.
Now, as for the story you get a gritty look at a scary possibility; New York City as a prison. While it does seem outlandish, especially when you see ‘1988’ pop up as the ‘future’, it’s still an interesting premise. You don’t fully understand the horror until Carpenter puts you inside the cage with Plissken. The rundown hopelessness of a broken world inside of a world is created and magnified through the beautifully built sets and the horror show environment. If I didn’t know this was built in a studio or on a sound stage, I would believe it was real.
Anyway, it’s an incredibly good film if you can get beyond the 80s special effects and the campy dialogue.
Pushing on, the Blu-ray upgrade that MGM/Fox lent Escape from New York is pretty good. For most of the film it’s sharp as a knife, but that knife dulls when you see the special effects kick in. For example, the scene where Airforce One is flying in the air looks horrible thanks to HD (well, you gotta give some props to 80s sfx as well). It’s grainy, it has the blue outline where the bluescreen is and it just looks incredibly old. Once you move beyond that though you’ll find the live-action scenes very gorgeous and cleaned-up. For example, when Plissken is shirtless and woken up by the Duke’s men, before his cage fight, you can actually see a giant pimple on Russell’s chest. Gross? God yes, but it’s something you won’t readily capture the essence of on DVD.
Anyway, it’s really good in HD, and great in the audio department if you can respect Carpenter’s taste in music making.
Finally, no features on this re-release. You do get a DVD version of the film, though.