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Escape from New York

Escape from New York (AKA New York 1997)

1981

John Carpenter

Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence ...

6.1

30,180

Sci-Fi. Action In 1997, the island of Manhattan has been turned into the world's largest maximum security prison, a place where the worst of humanity is sent to rot. The U.S. Government finds itself in a major crisis when the president's plane crash lands in New York only days before a vital peace summit between major warring nations is to take place. The president survives the crash, but is taken hostage by the denizens of Manhattan and held for ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Arthur Knight The Hollywood Reporter	"An altogether convincing picture of New York's grisly future (...) It has got an intriguing premise, an effective cast, and it has been expertly mounted"	POS
United Kingdom	Ian Nathan Empire	"[Carpenter's] concept, execution and lead character make for a fascinating acid-fairy tale (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Vincent Canby The New York Times	"[It] is by far Mr. Carpenter's most ambitious, most riveting film to date (...) [Russell] is malevolently good as the fallen hero"	POS
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"It's a rare film that has so many ideas and yet fails so consistently to make use of them (...) The movie is never less than entertaining, but it fails to satisfy"	NEU
United States	Keith Phipps AV Club	"Carpenter's grittily convincing New York-in-decay remains the film's best element. Never particularly suspenseful and hampered by a finale that almost literally steers the plot toward a dead end"	NEU
United Kingdom	Tom Milne Time Out	"For about half the film, Carpenter's narrative economy and explosive visual style (...) promise wonders. The trouble is that his characters neither develop nor interact dynamically"	NEU
United States	Jaime N. Christley Slant	"One of Carpenter’s more subdued films (...) Most of the images are elaborate confections of urban blight (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United Kingdom	Alan Jones Radio Times	"[It] never fulfils the ingenuity of its premise (...) Despite a marvellous night-time opening sequence, this slice of escapism often disappoints (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU

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