Bad But Good Film Of the Month: “Escape From L.A.” (1996)
“Welcome to the human race.”
Is it possible that one of the most outrageous films I’ve ever seen, released a year before I was born, has a poignant and coherent plot that has only become more relevant to American politics?
The answer, unfortunately, is yes.
Theocracy, extremism, terrorism, nationalism, racism, sexism, revolutionary fallacies, homophobia, transphobia, control of media, reckless deportation, dangerous technological advances, etc.
These are all central themes to a film that also contains a gladiatorial basketball game, tsunami surfing down Sunset Blvd, a poorly CGI’d hang glider sequence, and cheesy 90’s dialogue on par with The Crow (I love that movie, the bad dialogue is iconic).
I am a massive Kurt Russell fan, who isn’t? And his performance is as great as it possibly could be. He plays Snake Plisken, a stoic special forces protagonist that clearly inspired the Metal Gear Solid games and spends most of the film craving a good old fashioned cigarette.
“The name’s Snake.”
The same can be said for Steve Buscemi, who plays an “agent” for the terrorist leader Cuervo Jones (Dollar Store Che Guevara) and is constantly flipping loyalties while nudging the plot forward, regularly showing up to tell Snake where to find his next objective.
Snake is sent on a mission to Los Angeles by the President, which has now been reduced to an island after a catastrophic earthquake and houses all the people the Christian nationalist government have taken citizenship from (non-Christians, gay people, drug and alcohol users, any sort of political dissident, etc).
The President rigged his way into a lifetime term and has been enacting his oppressive theocracy for years, deporting more and more people to L.A. His own daughter runs away to join Cuervo on the walled-off island, who seeks to dismantle the American regime.
The film does drag in the middle, to be sure, but the practical effects, decent action and on-location shots do enough to keep you watching. Importantly, it does put it all together at the end, where ultimately it is clear that both extremists, Cuervo Jones and Mr. President, are wrong. Snake takes matters into his own hands and (spoiler alert) detonates a global EMP to give humanity a fresh start with all electronic technology and weapons rendered useless.
There is much to be said about easing our extremes and coming collectively closer to the political middle with civility and respect, especially in the face of disagreement, but I am far from the first or last to make that point. Rather than tell you more about it, I’d rather show you this goofy action movie from the 90’s. Happy watching.
Rating: 6.2/10