Escape from L.A. (1996)

Director: John Carpenter

Writers: John Carpenter, Nick Castle, Debra Hill, Kurt Russell

Composers: John Carpenter, Shirley Walker

Starring: Kurt Russell, Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Valeria Golino, Stacy Keach, Pam Grier, Bruce Campbell, Georges Corraface, Peter Jason, Paul Bartel, Robert Carradine

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Plan your escape this Summer

Plot: Snake Plissken is once again called in by the United States government to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I LOVE ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981).  It's a fun action flick from start to finish and Kurt Russell just oozes likability and fun. What happened with this sequel?  Where was Russell's charisma?  He looked bored all the way through it.  It's as if the spark was gone.  I love this guy but he was phoning it in and that hurt, big time.  I don't care that the story is a rehash of the first one.  The sense of playfulness from Carpenter and Russell was missing.  Bruce Campbell added a little bit silliness but there wasn't much for him to do.  The screenplay is anemic compared to the first picture.  And for what it's worth, I thought the surfing scene, in all its bad special effects glory, was cheesy, campy, hilarious and great fun.  Yeah, it was dumb as shit but it at least looked like everyone was winking at the audience at the same time so we all knew where we stood.  Instead, it felt like nobody cared...including me.