DnaError's Rating: Mad Max, in hell.
DnaError's Review: This is one cool movie. Blisteringly dangerous in it's levels of coolness. Sequel to the cult classic "Escape From, NY", "Escape from L. A" is just as good, if not better then it's classic predecessor.

To Sum up quickly, the plot states that in the far-flung future of 1998, "the big one" separates L. A from the rest of the nation. While the country undergoes a deep-down moral cleansing by it's new, President for Life (Cliff Robertson), the Island of Los Angelus becomes the deportation center for all of the nations immoral, illegal, degenerate freaks, so little has changed.

However, all is not peaches and cream in the new PC America. The President's uppity daughter Utopia (A. J. Langer) hijacks Air Force 3 and steals a doomsday device which she plans to deliver to a Thrid-World cult leader, Cuervo Jones (Georges Corraface) located in L.A. So, the government calls upon the infamous Snake Pisskin (Kurt Russel) to get it back.

I don't want to say a lot more cause most of the fun of this movie is seeing all the bizarre cults and sects that pop up in the destroyed L.A. It's a thing of pure cult fun to see Kurt Russel in a leather coat running across the wrecked sunset strip dodging fire or escaping from "plastic surgery failures" in the ruins of the Beverly Hills Hotel. (Although, I have to mention Cult King Bruce Cambell as the Surgeon General. It just confirms his place as the leader of cult films.). The visuals are complex and striking, unlike Escape From NY where it looked like any town, effort was put into making it look like L.A after a *really* bad day. It shares style with Mad Max and Blade Runner, but injects a sense of techno-western fun that's impossible to ignore.

Just pure, go-for broke and over-the-top fun wrapped in a clever, often sharply funny plot is what this movie is all about. The performances are pitch-perfect, with the exception of Cuvero Jones...I've seen fruit venders more menacing. Still, it's fast-paced celluloid action with a brain and Bruce Cambell.

The Movie Store!
Escape From L.A.: Movie [VHS]
Escape From L.A.: Movie [DVD]

Intermission!
At the beginning of the film, Kurt Russell wears his costume from the original film, which still fit after 15 years.

Groovy Quotes

The Surgeon General: (grabbing Talasma's breasts): Oh my god they're real!

Various people: (to Snake) Funny, I thought you where taller.

General: America is a nonsmoking county. No smoking, no drugs, no women, unless you're married. No fur, no curse-words, and no red meat.
Snake: Land of the Free.

If you liked this movie, try these:
Escape From New York
Fortress
Mad Max