MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Down 941 this week

Escape from L.A. (1996)

R  |   |  Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi  |  9 August 1996 (USA)
5.6
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 5.6/10 from 49,534 users  
Reviews: 220 user | 99 critic

Snake Plissken is once again called in by the United States government to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported.

Director:

Writers:

(characters), (characters), 3 more credits »
0Check in
0Share...

Watch Now

From $2.99 on Amazon Video

ON DISC

Top 25 Trivia Items From the Last 25 Years

Here are some amazing facts and figures to deepen your appreciation of the movies you love.

See the full list

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 47 titles
created 03 Jan 2013
 
a list of 24 titles
created 18 May 2013
 
a list of 31 titles
created 23 Nov 2013
 
a list of 37 titles
created 17 Sep 2014
 
a list of 43 titles
created 4 months ago
 

Related Items

Search for "Escape from L.A." on Amazon.com

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Escape from L.A. (1996)

Escape from L.A. (1996) on IMDb 5.6/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Escape from L.A..

User Polls

2 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Action | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

In 1997, when the US President crashes into Manhattan, now a giant maximum security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in for a rescue.

Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine
Action | Adventure | Comedy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

An All-American trucker gets dragged into a centuries-old mystical battle in Chinatown.

Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun
Action | Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

The lone inhabitants of an abandoned police station are under attack by the overwhelming numbers of a seemingly unstoppable street gang.

Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Laurie Zimmer
Vampires (1998)
Action | Horror | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.1/10 X  

A vengeful vampire slayer must retrieve an ancient Catholic relic that, should it be acquired by vampires, will allow them to endure sunlight.

Director: John Carpenter
Stars: James Woods, Daniel Baldwin, Sheryl Lee
They Live (1988)
Action | Horror | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

A drifter discovers a pair of sunglasses that allow him to wake up to the fact that aliens have taken over the Earth.

Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster
Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

A research team finds a mysterious cylinder in a deserted church. If opened, it could mean the end of the world.

Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Donald Pleasence, Lisa Blount, Jameson Parker
The Fog (1980)
Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

Legend says that Antonio Bay was built in 1880 with blood money obtained from shipwrecked lepers but no one believes it. On the eve of the town's centennial many plan to attend the celebrations, including the murdered lepers.

Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh
Christine (1983)
Action | Drama | Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.6/10 X  

A nerdish boy buys a strange car with an evil mind of its own and his nature starts to change to reflect it.

Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul
Action | Horror | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 4.9/10 X  

Years in the future, a Martian police unit is sent to pick up a highly dangerous criminal at a remote mining post. Upon arrival, the cops find that the post has become a charnel house.

Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube, Pam Grier
Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.6/10 X  

A small town's women give birth to unfriendly alien children posing as humans.

Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski
Soldier I (1998)
Action | Drama | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.9/10 X  

A soldier is dumped on a waste disposal planet and lives among a community of crash survivors on the planet and takes it upon himself to defend his new home when genetic engineered soldiers are ordered to eliminate the crash survivors.

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Stars: Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee, Jason Isaacs
Comedy | Romance | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.9/10 X  

After a freak accident, an invisible yuppie runs for his life from a treacherous CIA official while trying to cope with his new life.

Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah, Sam Neill
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Cuervo Jones (as George Corraface)
...
...
...
...
...
...
Woman on Freeway
Edit

Storyline

The year is 2013 and Snake Plissken is back but this time it's L.A., which through the agency of earthquakes has become an island of the damned. But something has gone wrong in this new moral order, because the President's daughter has absconded to L.A. with a detonation device, and Snake is commandeered to retrieve it. But just below the surface there is a coiled Snake ready to strike. Written by Anthony Pereyra {hypersonic91@yahoo.com}

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Plan Your Escape.['LA' from 'Plan' and 'Escape' are highlighted] See more »


Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and some language | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Official Sites:

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

9 August 1996 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

John Carpenter's Escape from L.A.  »

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$8,912,557 (USA) (9 August 1996)

Gross:

JPY 131,401,000 (Japan) (6 December 1996)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jamie Lee Curtis provides the opening narration of the film, just as she had done in Escape From New York. See more »

Goofs

No matter what the technology, an electromagnetic pulse will not damage a battery, as is claimed in the film. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Female Narrator: In the late 20th century, hostile forces inside the United States grow strong. The city of Los Angeles is ravaged by crime and immorality. To protect and defend its citizens, the United States Police Force is formed. A presidential candidate predicts a millennium earthquake will destroy L.A. in divine retribution.
President: Like the mighty fist of God, Armageddon will descend upon the city of Los Angeles - the city of sin, the city of Gomorrah, the city of Sodom - and waters will rise and ...
[...]
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Bob's Burgers: Adventures in Chinchilla-sitting (2015) See more »

Soundtracks

Dawn
By Christopher Hall, Jim Sellers, Walter Flakus & Andy Kubiszewski
Performed by Stabbing Westward
Courtesy of Columbia Records
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
"Sounds familiar."
5 August 2009 | by (Denmark) – See all my reviews

That sums up one of the most undeniable aspects about this flick: It is enormously reminiscent of the first. Whether or not that's a negative thing is up to the individual. It still holds great surprises, and is definitely a fun ride. There is more satire in this than the first. The tone of this is often overdone and campy, in stark contrast to how serious that of "New York" was, and there are those that will miss that. This is humorous, if a few gags and jokes fall flat. Everyone but Russell(who nails the part again) is newly cast, and the choices are all fitting. This has some rather memorable occurrences(a couple of them for sheer weirdness and imagination), and certainly puts several breathtaking visuals up on the screen. The effects vary, though there are excellent ones herein. Dialog has quotable lines, and is well-delivered. The music is cool. Cinematography and editing are marvelous. The acting holds good performances. While it does bear a striking resemblance to that of the original movie, the script of this is interesting, creative and well-done. It has a nice pace, and you gotta admit that it's packed with action. Each sequence is exciting and intense, and differs from the rest in some way. There is strong violence and language in this, as well as disturbing content. This is bigger than the '81 film. Unfortunately, it also cost a larger amount of money, and only made about half back. It's too bad that Carpenter's work has a tendency to not be appreciated by the masses(only the fans and/or cult following) when it is initially released. I recommend this to anyone who wishes to watch it, the two aforementioned groups in particular. 6/10


14 of 20 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Unbelievably bad rlieberg
For Those That Fail To Understand This Film and J Carpenter--READ THIS liquid_snake0074
Escape from Earth dan-willi84
Things I've learned from watching EFLA... darkstorm97
Surfing scene agfairweather
NY vs LA dirtyguy56
Discuss Escape from L.A. (1996) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?