For some moviegoers, pointlessness is one of the most despised aspects of a bad film. On rare occasions, though, a film comes out that, by not taking itself too seriously, transforms pointlessness into a virtue.
“Escape From L.A.” is just that rare kind of movie. There was no plot to speak of, the setting and characters were at best far-fetched, and even the music was bad. Yet “Escape” was a pure joy to watch.
Kurt Russell stars as “Snake,” a renowned criminal in a futuristic United States where smoking and red meat are outlawed. But until now, Snake has been able to avoid capture and deportation to the island of Los Angeles.
In this future world, L.A. has separated from the mainland and become a jail for moral criminals unsuited to life in the new religious America. Predictably, a resistance has developed, and the citizens of L.A. are planning to attack the mainland.
So, in a nutshell, Snake will be let free if he can stop the attack.
The entire attack is based in a “black box” which holds the power to shut down the power of anything - from a taxicab in Brazil to the nation of Spain. Snake is to seize the box.
What follows is hardly worthy of the big screen, except for the glaring exception of Kurt Russell. He rarely speaks, but when he does, it keeps the audience laughing for as long as it takes to come up with another memorable line.
Russell’s brilliant caricature of a typical tough-guy action hero is classic. While he conjures images of Schwarzenegger and Stallone at their best, he simultaneously mocks them.
Outside of Russell, everything about “Escape From L.A.” is awful. But, luckily, an hour and a half of “Snake” is worth the ticket price, pointlessness and all.
Grade: B+