Film According to Mr Cinema review: "Escape From New York" 1981

John Carpenter’s 1981 film “Escape From New York” was one of the director’s early feature films. The futuristic story sees Snake Plissken (Kurt Russel), a dangerous criminal who is sentenced to be captivated in the now sealed off maximum security prison of the former state of Manhattan. As he is being prepared for arrival, he is conned by police commissioner: Hauk (Lee Van Cleef) into saving the President who had become trapped within the perimeter walls on his way to a summit meeting.

The movie, in my humble opinion, is ordinary at best. Though the visuals and concepts were nothing short of stunning, none of the characters really developed terribly much, nor did they really show much personality at all. I also feel as though most of the characters were heavily under-utilised, especially the madcap, somewhat joker-esque Romero (Frank Doubleday) who, I felt, showed a lot of promise as a villain. The final thing that I found somewhat annoying was that The Duke (Isaac Hayes) was not as evil and merciless as his reputation would lead one to believe; he was just a powerful man in prison who was no meaner than any other hardened criminal. I did, however enjoy seeing the colourful and vibrant world that Carpenter had dreamed up and executed with skill and precision.

Rating: 6/10