Carpenter film has some times and some misses
By Lane Crockett
John Carpenter is one of those filmmakers who does it all. In his latest offering, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, he co-wrote the script, composed the music and directed, and came up with a not-unsuccessful futuristic thriller.
The director, who guided HALLOWEEN and THE FOG to good box offices, this time has turned his attention to a "suspenser" set in the 1990s when the entire island of Manhattan has become a central prison for the nation's lawbreakers. America, one assumes, has evolved into a police state.
The impetus of the picture comes when the president's plane crashes within Manhattan and the head of the state is held hostage. One man, Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), a young war hero and now dangerous criminal, is the only man who can go in and bring the president out. To ensure that Plissken, who is offered complete freedom if he does so, will accomplish the feat, tiny bombs are planted in his system which will destruct in 24 hours.
This is straightforward derring-do with a smattering of fancy to give it a twist. Carpenter likes this kind of nervy project, and when he settles down to action sequences the picture has a good deal to recommend it. Somehow, though, it never quite gets one on the edge of the seat.
The director's conception of a walled-in Manhattan seems to be large piles of garbage in the streets and a good many deserted stores. Otherwise he doesn't give us much in the way of what the island looks like in scope. He partly gets around that by shooting the picture throughout an evening, so that one picks out shadowy images.
Carpenter also is not much interested in filling in story gaps. Where, for instance, do all those criminals get food? We are already told the state ignores the place (only patrolling it around the perimeters). The mysterious Snake seems to be known by every Tom, Dick and Harry - and all of them think he is dead. Why? What happened to the rest of the country? Granted, Carpenter is only interested in this telescoped escape attempt, but it comes off as a small part of a larger drama.
Russell, speaking in a muted growl, wearing an eyepatch and straining for a super-macho attitude, pushes too hard until he finally settles down. Apparently this is Russell's try at breaking out of the characters he created for so many Walt Disney films. Ernest Borgnine, a former oscar winner for MARTY, gives another of his silly evocations of blue-collar worker, this time, oddly, a cab driver in the prison. The rest - Lee Van Cleef as a steely-eyed police official, Isaac Hayes as Manhattan's acknowledged kingpin, Harry Dean Stanton as his inventive toady and Adrienne Barbeau as Stanton's girl - walk through stick roles.
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK is far from what it could have been, but it does have sufficient energy and the idea is different. Carpenter is a bit more than a competent director and he comes up with some nice camera work, instilling a sense of eeriness. But, unlike his previous efforts, this one falls a little short in shaking up the adrenalin. The ending is clever and not really unexpected.
