Escape from Los Angeles

On August 23, 2000, an earthquake of 9.6 points occurred in Los Angeles , which flooded the San Fernando Valley . The valley turned into the San Fernando Sea, the whole city - from Malibu to Anaheim - separated from the mainland, becoming an island. Just before that, the US presidential candidate ( Cliff Robertson ), an outspoken fundamentalist , during his election campaign declared Los Angeles “a city of sin” and predicted that “like God's mighty right hand, the waters will rise and separate this city that is mired in sin from ours countries".

This candidate wins the election, and a new amendment to the Constitution secures him the presidency for life. The President declares that anyone who does not comply with the new laws of “moral America” that he creates will lose his citizenship and will be exiled to Los Angeles if he does not repent or choose an electric chair. The laws prohibit smoking, alcohol, red meat, firearms, profanity, non-Christian religions and extramarital sex.

Just like New York in Escape from New York , Los Angeles has become a sort of life-long penal colony. A protective wall was built along the coast of the island, armed guards were set up on the towers. Exiled to the island are expelled forever.

In 2013, Cuervo Jones ( ), a Che Guevara-like revolutionary from the Peruvian organization Shining Path , seduces the President’s daughter Utopia ( AJ Langer ) through a holographic Internet system and convinces her to steal a remote control from her father control to the superweapon “ Damocles Sword ” - a group of high-tech satellites capable of neutralizing electronic devices anywhere on the planet using a focused electromagnetic pulse . The president threatened to use the system to bring America’s enemies into a state of “inability to function,” and ultimately to conquer the world. Utopia escapes at Air Force Object # 3 and lands on Los Angeles to be with Cuervo.

With satellites under his control, Cuervo promises to return America through the invasion forces of the allies of Latin America : Brazil , Cuba and Mexico . He states that if the President tries to stop him, he will “block oxygen” to the country and cut down the capital. Cuervo also knows the secret of the “world code,” which can activate all satellites and disable energy on an entire planet.

Meanwhile, the Plisskin Snake ( Kurt Russell ) was arrested for a new series of crimes, now he is forced to go to the island. However, immediately before the link, the Serpent meets with the President, who offers him an operation to return the device. The President says that he will completely have mercy on Plisskin for all the crimes that he has ever committed if the mission succeeds. The president makes it clear that he will not insist on the return of Utopia, declaring her a traitor. At first, the Snake rejects this offer, but in order to ensure his consent, the Snake was tricked into infecting the artificial plutoxin 7 virus, which will kill him within 9 hours. If the Serpent performs an operation, he will be given an antidote.

The snake is given by an automatic machine, a personal holographic projector, a thermal mask, and a countdown clock. Los Angeles has now turned into ruins and a hotbed of crime. A snake makes its way to the city in a submarine mini-boat, which due to its fault breaks when approaching the city. While traveling around the island, Snake meets Eddie "Star Map" ( Steve Buscemi ), a crook who trades with excursions around Los Angeles.

With the help of former transgender accomplice Hershey Snake accidentally in Los Angeles, he defeats Cuervo at his military base in former Disneyland and picks up the remote control. As a result, the Serpent makes an escape from the island with Utopia in a helicopter. Eddie tries to kill Cuervo, but he manages to shoot a helicopter from a grenade launcher, and Eddie falls from a helicopter. Serpent and Utopia get to the President. The serpent deliberately passes the false remote to the President when Utopia is led away to the electric chair , despite her pleas for forgiveness. The Plutoxin 7 virus turns out to be just a fast-passing variant of the flu (which Snake already learned from Hershey and Eddie). Thinking that he has control over the satellites, the President is trying to use them to stop the Cuban invasion forces in Florida . When activating the remote control, the President hears only the introduction of the song " I Love LA " performed by Eddie "Star Card".

Angry, the President orders to shoot the Serpent, but the Serpent has already launched its holographic projector, and the troops are shooting at the hologram, and the Serpent itself is a few hundred meters from it. The snake launches the device, entering the world code, despite requests not to do this, and as a result, neutron pulses disable all equipment on the ground, including the electric chair on which they were going to execute Utopia. Realizing what happened, Utopia praises the Serpent for “cutting down the world” and saving it. The moment he "cuts down the Earth", the hologram of the Serpent disappears. On earth, he finds a pack of American Spirit cigarettes and lights one of them, and then says to himself, "Welcome to the human race."

The script, written by Coleman Luck , was approved in 1985, but the film has been in production for over 10 years. John Carpenter later described the script as “too light, too vulgar” ^[3] . The project lay on the shelf until an earthquake struck in January 1994 and riots in Los Angeles revived the idea of ​​making the film. In July, Carpenter, Kurt Russell, and their long-time co-author, got together and three of us began to discuss the impact of the quake on Los Angeles residents. Developing the theme of violence and its connection with the future of the country, they decided to write a new script. Carpenter argues that only Russell’s persistence allowed the film to be created because “Plisskin Snake was the character he loved and wanted to play again.” ^[4]

On December 11, 1995, filming began. Carpenter included in the film crew people who worked with him on the set of the movie “ Village of the Damned, ” including cameraman Gary B. Kibby and editor Edward A. Varshilka .

“Escape from Los Angeles” accurately reproduces the landscape of the city, projecting it onto future totalitarian reality. The film unfolds in front of such Los Angeles attractions as the RMS Queen Mary liner, , , , as well as the famous stadium . The filmmakers made the scenery more than a kilometer long to show the destroyed Sunset Boulevard . Producer Debra Hill tells ^[5] :

We did in Los Angeles what we did in New York. We took the most trivial tourist spots, which are the symbols of Los Angeles, and used them in the film. The San Fernando Valley has become the sea of ​​San Fernando. The serpent lands in the Hollywood Bowl , walks along Sunset Boulevard past the Chinese Theater , refuses to take a card from Eddie's Star Card at the intersection of Sunset and Doheny, goes to the and ends up at a basketball game in the Coliseum.

Original text

We did in Los Angeles what we did in New York. We took the most obvious tourist locations that are the symbols of LA and used them in the film. The San Fernando Valley becomes the San Fernando Sea. Snake lands at Hollywood Bowl, walks down Sunset Boulevard past The Chinese theater, refuses a map from Map To the Stars Eddie at Sunset and Doheny, goes to the Beverly Hills Hotel and ends up at a basketball game at the Coliseum.

Escape from Los Angeles was influenced by films such as Omega Man , Jaws , Mad Max 3: Under the Dome of Thunder , and the series Taxi . A similar future was demonstrated in the film The Destroyer : obscene language was forbidden, and swearing sensors installed everywhere automatically wrote out a fine for every indecent word ^[6] .

As in the movie “ Escape from New York ”, the atmosphere of “Escape from Los Angeles” was sustained in the spirit of anarchy and desolation inherent in post-apocalyptic works: the same dirty dilapidated neighborhoods, street gangs, entertainment in the style of Ancient Rome .

The film “Escape from Los Angeles” had an impact on many works of art, in particular, cinema and computer games . As examples of subsequent films that borrowed the ideas of the film, one can name “ Soldier ”, “ Artificial Intelligence ”, “ Thirteenth District ”. In the film " Los Angeles Plays Itself ", shots from "Escape from Los Angeles" are shown.

American series also hint at the plot of the film. In the Kindergarten series of the South Park series, the musical theme of Trent’s release from prison is similar to the theme of releasing Snake Plisskin from prison at the beginning of the film. Roger from the series American Dad! "In the series" Con Heir "calls his father Stan Snake Plisskin. The name of the film is used in the title of episode 5 of season 5 of the TV series Ellen .

Allusions to the contents of the film are contained in computer games, for example, Deus Ex , Dead to Rights . The hero of the famous game " Duke Nukem 3D " Duke says the phrase ^[7] : "I guess he did not run away from Los Angeles."

In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty , the main character, Solid Snake, calls himself “Iroquois Pliskin” to remain incognito.

• 1997 - Saturn Award
  • Best Costumes - Robin Michelle Bush
  • Best sci-fi movie

• The film "Escape from Los Angeles" on the official website of John Carpenter
• " Escape from Los Angeles ” on the Internet Movie Database  
• Escape from Los Angeles on allmovie