On the eve of the Hartford Summit between the United States, Russia and China, Air Force One has crash-landed in New York City, recently converted to a maximum security prison to house the worst criminals in the country. In exchange for a full pardon, war hero turned master criminal Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is assigned the task of going into Manhattan and rescue the President (Donald Pleasence) before the conference ends.

CRITIQUE

I love John Carpenter’s 1981 classic Escape from New York. Love probably isn’t a strong enough word. This macho, unabashedly juvenile B-movie is arguably one of my all-time favorites, and if I were actually forced to count my guess would be I’ve seen this picture at least a good 50 or 60 times.

What can I say? This cheesy, self-referential chestnut just makes me happy. For me, this is the role Russell will always be identified with, the one-eyed warrior talking in almost whispery monotone getting the job done with a laconically graceful ease. There is just something about this antihero that has always spoken to me, and watching him effortlessly glide across the screen (even after getting shot in the leg by a crossbow) is as pure a joy as any I’ve ever had sitting in a movie theatre during a midnight screening or on my couch showing the film off to friends.

But it just doesn’t stop with him. I’ve always felt that this was Carpenter’s finest hour from a purely casting standpoint. From Pleasence to Lee Van Cleef, from Harry Dean Stanton to Isaac Hayes, from Ernest Borgnine to Tom Atkins, from Adrienne Barbeau to Season Hubley, I can’t imagine a single character here (no matter how brief their screen time – sorry Season) being portrayed by another actor. All of them inhabit their respective rolls like proverbial gloves, Hayes in particular giving such a dynamite, standout performance I can sometime hear his definitive line readings in my head even if I’m listening to his music or watching him act in an entirely different picture.

Okay, I get it. This movie is absurd. This movie hasn’t exactly aged well and as an action epic the whole thing is admittedly a tiny bit underwhelming. But that’s also part of its charm. From Dean Cundey sensational cinematography to Joe Alves now classic production design (would you believe the majority of this picture was shot in St. Louis?) there is so much to adore about the finished product who cares if the whole thing is a wee bit silly?

I certainly don’t. Sure Carpenter’s The Thing, Halloween and Assault on Precinct 13 are all technically better pictures but I’d be lying if I didn’t come clean with the fact this is the one I’ve watched the most times (although The Thing is a very close second). Heck, I even like the even sillier sequel Escape from L.A. mainly because I’m so infatuated with the main character and Russell’s awesome embodiment of him.

The bottom line? Escape from New York isn’t the greatest thing since fresh-baked sliced bread, no, but for my money it sure is as tasty. I could watch this movie again and again and again on a continuous loop and probably never grow tired of it, Snake Plissken sure to get out of the Big Apple but highly unlikely to ever escape from the very center of my heart.

THE VIDEO

Escape from New York is presented in 2.35:1/1080p widescreen on a dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC video codec. Is this the best the film has ever looked at home? Yes. Could Fox have done a better job with this perennial and much-loved cult classic? You bet they could have. The transfer is very, very dark, and while I remember it looking that way when I saw it in a theatre a few years back but compared to much brighter previous releases on VHS and DVD these seems like something worthy of being pointed out.

The bottom line here is that this is an older film, not made with the biggest budget in the world (although the $7-million Carpenter had to work with was his largest up until that time) and the quality level of the visuals does reflect that fact. Fox has done a serviceable job and nothing more leading me to believe there will be another Blu-ray released for this title somewhere down the line.

THE AUDIO

Available audio includes English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Dolby Surround and French Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks with optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles. Now THIS is more like it! This soundtrack upgrade is, to my ears (and my surround sound system), relatively awesome. If there is one place where Fox gets this release right it is here, Escape from New York never sounding as truly ass-kicking as it does with this release.

THE EXTRAS

Extras? What extras? There are extras? I don’t remember getting any extras? Sure there’s a flipper DVD disc in here containing both Full Screen and Widescreen versions of the film (along with the theatrical trailer) but I’m not entirely sure that’s an extra. Is it?

All kidding aside, this is why I think Fox (MGM) is setting us up for a future release of this title sometime in the future. There is already an outstanding DVD special edition out there filled with sensational audio commentaries, documentaries, deleted scenes and other extras that true fans of the film will long to devour. Why this Blu-ray doesn’t offer any of those items, not a single solitary one of them, is a true and total shame, making this release scream of a future double-dip like almost nothing else I’ve ever seen.

I get the feeling that that by releasing this title (and few others, like Kalifornia and Bull Durham) in this fashion Fox and MGM are scoring some quick cash by duping consumers into paying for a bare-bones Blu-ray by including a past DVD edition that was sitting on their shelves collecting dusts. It’s like an excuse to get rid of old product by packaging it with something that looks fresh, new and inviting but is in reality anything but, and imagine many of the die-hard fans are going to be disappointed, if not outright furious, when they spend the twenty bucks or so to pick this one up.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I love Escape from New York. It’s a great B-movie I could probably watch forever without tiring. But this Blu-ray is a decidedly mixed bag, and while the upgrade and picture and especially audio are readily apparent the lack of anything else kind of makes purchasing this disc feel like a cheat. You’ve been warned.