Escape from L.A. Commentary

This is the exact same movie as its predecessor, Escape from New York.  There really isn't much else to say.  It has essentially the same story, characters and terrible delivery from Kurt Russel.  Even Snake's "do this or you'll die" motivation is exactly the same.  There are really only two differences.  First, they focus a little more on the intense moral decay that is the underlying agenda for these movies.  The reason for the prison is one of morality.  The barbaric "gladiatorial" spectacle is more intense.  They really pushed the same agenda rather than try something new.  As a result, it seems like more of a Mad Max ripoff than anything else.

Second, there is a heavier reliance on special effects and more action.  While I'm sure the effects were fairly groundbreaking for their time, there was that awkward period in the mid-90s where CGI was just coming into its own and in order to make it look realistic, you had to spend a very large sum of money.  They didn't spend enough.  The green screening and other CGI effects are very poor in this film and it does not age well at all.  They should have relied more heavily on building tension like in the first one and less on the explosions and fake helicopters and submarines.

There is just a huge lack of any originality in this movie.  Don't see it.  Watch the first one instead.