SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

yuengling215 This is a classic 80's movie! Definitely worth watching if you like sci-fi movies! They don't make movies like this anymore, that's for sure... It doesn't have all those special effects and CGI nonsense. It's how movies still should be made. With actors not overacting and not all the computer generated crap. A bare bones sci-fi flick. If your looking for something different and are tired of all the crap out there check out this movie!

cinemajesty Movie Review: "Escape From New York" (1981)In independent restraints, armed with powerhouse heart-beating screenplay conceived with a lot of foreign inspiration, especially the far east cultures of the rising sun, writers Nick Castle and director John Carpenter blessed with leading man Kurt Russell as beyond-the-law mercenary army-of-one "Snake Plissken" at age 29 going on a mission to save the U.S. American President, whose Air Force One crashed landed in a shut-down island of Manhattan, where Anarchy rules to fighting dystopian proportions.With Larry Franco and late Debra Hill (1950-2005) producing on tight but used beyond imagination production budget lets "Escape From New York" prevail in entertainment factors even against magnus opus productions as "Superman II" (1980) and "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979) directed by Robert Wise of the same Hollywood period of emerging video-tape industries, outgoing from all conceivable forms of visualizations in sound, music and picture art-works as the home video entertainment market, suddenly on every Major Hollywood Players desk on monday mornings."Escape From New York" directed by John Carpenter, learning as exceeding his filmschooling crafts by starting from the lowest end of micro-budgeting "Dark Star" with Dan O'Bannon (1946-2009) over "Halloween" (1978) starring Jamie Lee Curtis to Carpenter's ultimate masterpiece "The Thing" (1982) also-starring Kurt Russell as Antarctic Scientist in Alien-invading distress in an ultimate summer season with ruling film-makers of a now more fading generation with film classics as "Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan", "Conan, The Babarian", "Blade Runner" and "E.T. the extraterrestrial" directed by Steven Spielberg, who remains in forging new digital frontiers for 2018.At time when nevertheless the old-fashioned as ruthlessness of this face-pacing 95-Minute-editorial by cutter Todd C. Ramsey, utilizing Dean Cundey's ultra-star close-to neo-noir cinematography in devasting honest apocalyptic production design to racing, chasing showdown bridge pursuits ending in cranking metal of solid steel and machine gun bullets in storming, yet coolness ensuring to limbing of having giving everything for nothing to win.© 2018 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

Red-Barracuda This early 80's bit of dystopian sci-fi set in a future America which is now a fascist state has gone on to garner a cult reputation. Set in the future of 1997, Manhattan Island is now a high security prison where the criminal dregs of society are contained. When the president's aeroplane crashes in the middle of this city prison and captured by the resident criminals, a mercenary called Snake Plissken is sent in on a do-or-die mission to retrieve him within twenty-four hours.Escape From New York is another in the long line of strong movies director John Carpenter made in his 70's-80's heyday. After a couple of big horror hits under his belt he returned to the more action-oriented style of his earlier Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), except in this case adding a science-fiction premise to add considerable colour. To this end, the film features dark dilapidated New York settings for the action to take place and these, added to the nice panoramic views of the darkened city add considerable atmosphere. As does Carpenter's main theme music which is amongst the very best be ever composed and given the high calibre of his original soundtrack music, that's saying quite a lot. The film also benefits from a cast of b-movie legends, we have Donald Pleasence as an improbable President of the United States, Isaac Hayes is a blaxploitation styled Duke of New York, Kurt Russell as the iconic eye-patch sporting anti-hero, Adrienne Barbeau appears throughout in an eye-popping low cut tight red outfit, Ernest Borgnine is a comic-relief cabbie, Lee Van Cleef is a hard-bitten police chief and Harry Dean Stanton pitches up as a shifty character called Brain. The film isn't always fully exciting stuff it has to be admitted and it sometimes promises more than it delivers but the set-up, settings and cast are very good, while there are some memorable scenes such as the death match and mine-infested bridge to keep the pace up. Ultimately, this is a very solid bit of early 80's sci-fi action, with enough distinctive elements to ensure its ongoing cult appeal.

aj0899 I've been on a kick of watching movies from around this time period. Escape From New York is one I had never seen, but had heard a lot about. I was disappointed. It is a very low budget movie, with almost no plot. The action scenes, which would be the only selling point, are mostly bland and lack any kind of excitement or impact. The premise is kind of interesting, but with the hindsight of history, being set in 1997 with late 70s technology makes it tough to buy in. Other movies from the same time period did a much better job in the same territory (The Terminator had a small budget, but is a much better movie). Looking for positives, it has some good actors who do their best with the minimal script. Russell, Van Cleef, Borgnine and Pleasance all do their job well with what they're given. Which isn't much. Adrienne Barbeau provides ever-present cleavage to distract from the lack of plot. The music is good considering Carpenter did it himself, but it's not anything great.Overall, I can't say it was worth the time. I probably won't watch it again.