File this as another Semi-Straight-Faced Feature-Length Satire of Itself tout suite. At points it has absolutely no shame, leading to some outrageously silly Carpenter-lite moments of levity and bombast. Some are even pretty enjoyable!

But at other points, it seems openly apologetic that you’re watching such a dumbass collection of rehashed plotlines and truly Luddite-esque special effects cobbled together into something that shouldn’t really exist - or if it did, should be a hell of a lot stronger all around.

“This is LA, vato! And you’re about to find out, this fucking city can kill anybody!!”

Whereas the first one’s title - an all-time brilliant collection of words to describe an imminent adventure - was wisely consistent with every moment and detail of that ingenious yarn, this time the effect is both astutely and frustratingly meta. The ‘Escape From L.A.’ label looming over these proceedings functions more as an exhausted appeal to give up Hollywood’s carnivorous need for constant sequelizing, more than anything else. And yet the film shies away from implicating itself in any interesting way by the end, so it all just kind of sucks. 

Love the fact that Russell did all the 🏀 shots himself, though. That’s pretty damn cool.