Found in the lists:
Directors Ranked: John Carpenter
2018 First Time Watches

Film #6 of My 100 Degrees, 100 Movies Challenge

Common actor from previous film: Pam Grier

PREVIOUS FILM: Jackie Brown
NEXT FILM: The Thing

I was very tempted to tick the "I've watched this film before" box because this is essentially a rehash of Escape From New York but that isn't to say there isn't fun to be had watching this.

The CGI in this is laughably bad and looks more dated than Escape from New York despite coming out 15 years later. However, as I said above, this film is a hell of a lot of fun. Kurt once again plays Snake Plissken with the perfect amount of cool, and cool he is. I still say Snake ranks very highly amongst the "coolest film protagonists" of all-time. There are also great performances from Stacy Keach, Steve Buscemi and essentially cameo roles for Pam Grier and a well-hidden Bruce Campbell. One thing I liked about this story is how accurate it was with portraying 21st century Hollywood, talking about how actors "pump their face with too much botox" etc etc.

I also loved the score by Carpenter once again. Of the films I've seen of his where he has done the score himself, he really nails the tone of each film. Carpenter is also really good at creating believable worlds. The atmosphere in his films is great and L.A. is no exception.

Overall, the film is just too similar to Escape from New York to really get a great rating, along with the terrible CGI. In fact, one scene where Snake is hand-gliding, he literally lets go of the bar with both hands while checking his watch and doesn't move at all. It's hilariously bad. BUT, this movie is really, really fun and worth a watch, at least once.