Escape From New York [Blu-ray] [2018]

So, at first this movie made me feel old. I love John Carpenter and had seen most of his films (including the sequel to this and my step-father simply told me the plot of this film while we watched that,) but I had not yet seen this all the way through. So, here's the plot, around a year before I'm born (I'm 40) crime is getting really out of hand in America. By the time I'm in Kindergarten (the future when this was made,) crime is out of control and they turn New York into a giant, walled off prison unit for the whole country. This film's narrative opens in the far future (my freshman year of high school) where Kurt Russell is the only person that can save the president of the United States (Dr. Loomis from the original Halloween pictures,) from the Prison of New York City and also deliver to him a valuable recording that could end an ongoing war for the United States. As always, Carpenter and Hill had incredible attention to detail adding stuff you'll never forget like the voice speaker during the opening scene telling criminals they can simply elect to be immediately murdered and cremated and their cremains will be transferred to family and etc...4k Blu-ray is really a format where little things like this stand out in a home theater setting and you catch everything that John snuck in there. This is my third John Carpenter 4k disc (I also own The Thing and They Live) and I cherish it like I do the Blue Underground Italian discs. I met him one time at a convention, and it was a good time. He kept teasing Nick Castle trying to get a rise out of him. He definitely commanded a presence like he could run the show effectively FOR SURE. That must be why he's so successful. That impressed me and I always remembered it. It was nothing he said specifically but just him in general, he set the tone subtly with his presence and you know this guy runs the show, lol. I'm the boss at work, so I respect things like that. It was the first time I got to meet a hero and they were exactly what I hoped they'd be in my wildest dreams. Great movie, great film maker, buy this damn thing and watch it already! Watch Kurt Russel kick ass and know that I'm sitting in a dimly lit room experiencing sex ed during this same time period! 1997 forever! Carpenter forever! Russell forever! Pleasance forever! Also, the dude that played the angel Gabriel in Disney's One Magic Christmas is in this movie. You're welcome. If you watch it every year, you'd be trying to figure out like hell who that guy is. I know I was until I remembered during the second act!

Great quality. No complaints.

AWESOME movie, Kurt Russel as Snake Plisken is the bomb. Great escapism. A movie you will no doubt watch more than once. The music, casting, acting and writing is great.

Nice movie and collectors edition

This film is based on a terrific idea. It's the future, see, and New York has been walled up and turned into a maximum-security prison. If that concept doesn't grab you, you won't enjoy this cult classic. If it _does_ grab you, you're probably part of this film's target demographic. So here's what happens: the President (Donald Pleasence, of all people, and he's terrific in the role) has ejected from Air Force One and gone down somewhere in New York. He's being held prisoner and somebody is going to have to rescue him. Fortunately, war hero and convicted felon Snake Plisskin (Kurt Russell) is on his way there as a prisoner, and maybe in exchange for a full pardon he can be induced to save the President's butt. If he doesn't succeed within 24 hours, two bombs implanted in his arteries will kill him. This is a great action flick with lots of atmosphere, and it's got the tremendously underrated Kurt Russell, in the film in which he finally shucked off his Disneyfied past. And it's directed by John Carpenter, who is uncannily adept at turning out a fine movie on a budget of about twenty bucks. Frank Doubleday as Romero sets the tone for this particular vision of New York; from his very first moment on screen, he pretty much shows you what the city is all about in this dark future. Ernest Borgnine is charmingly droll as the Cabbie, Lee Van Cleef is Lee Van Cleef, and Adrienne Barbeau is both sharp and beautiful. And Isaac Hayes is even cooler here than he was in _Truck Turner_, and that's saying a lot. The atmosphere is very dark and gritty and vaguely apocalyptic, brought to life with help from a memorable score by Carpenter. Russell brings Plissken to life perfectly. And the film has lost none of its anarchic/antiauthoritarian edge. Great, classic piece of Carpenteriana, as enjoyable today as it was in 1981. Since writing this review originally, I've also bought the two-disc Special Edition, and it's well worth the money for the fine DVD transfer and nifty extras.

I'll keep this short since this movie is roughly 30 years old and anything that there is to be said about it has been said already. This new release was barebones, I knew that going in, so I'm not going to take away a star for that because I just want the movie to look and sound as good as possible right now. I know that there will be a re-release at some point in the near future - either for the 30'th anniversary or for a "first look" at the upcoming remake. I'm sure this is going to happen. I'll worry about that when it happens, and decide what to do with this release when the time comes (if I decide that I *need* to have the extras on Blu-ray). Anyway... The transfer is great. Easily the best this film has ever looked outside of the theater. This release wasn't a DNR nightmare and lacks the edge enhancement and contrast boost mess that took place in the UK release. The picture here is nice (it looks a little dark, but it seems natural) - probably the best it will ever look on Blu-ray. The audio was amazing as well. Amazing DTS-HD MA track! There was only one line that was difficult to hear due to the sound effects/music, but it was like that on the DVD too - so whatever - I guess that's just how it is (for anyone interested, it's whatever Brain says after he says something about redskins). A DVD was included with this release, which was unnecessary but infinitely better than a 'digital copy.' The DVD is a flipper disc that features the widescreen version on one side, and the pan-and-scan version (EWWWW) version on the other side. Now, I know what you're thinking. Is this the same disc as the 2000 DVD release (since that was a flipper disc, too)? That's what I thought at first, but I distinctly remember that disc not having a 5.1 audio track (it only had 2.0). This one has a 5.1 track. So, is it the 2003 Special Edition DVD version, but instead of it being on a regular disc, it's on a flipper disc? This one is missing the Carpenter/Russell commentary track! I don't know what MGM did, but it's like they merged the two releases or something. The picture quality on the DVD wasn't bad, and the 5.1 track was nice, so I'm *guessing* that it was the 2003 version, stripped of the commentary, and pressed on a flipper disc. Why would they do this? I have no idea. If anyone knows what exactly went on with the DVD, since it is clearly SOME kind of mixture of the two discs, feel free to comment me on it! All in all, if you just want the best looking/sounding version of 'Escape from New York' that you could possibly buy right now, this is it. If you're worried about special features, maybe you could hold off for a year or two and see if the product gets re-released (I'm betting it will be since this one is barebones and the anniversary AND remake are coming up). I didn't want to wait, so I scooped this up. I care more about outstanding picture quality than special features, so this was a good buy for me, especially with the included DVD for those times where I'll want to get my Snake Plissken on and I'm not near my only Blu-ray player (or if I want to let somebody borrow the DVD).

Awesome cult classic great add to any collection blue ray brings it to new life

There's 3 blu-ray versions of this John carpenter classic the first is the U.S. edition by MGM/20TH century fox released back in 2010 this release is completely barebones, no extras at all the 2nd is the U.K. edition by Optimum home entertainment this U.K. version is ALL REGIONS so this HD transfer is the same as the 2010 U.S. edition plus the U.K. edition has all the special features carried over from the very old special edition dvd release plus has a new exclusive 30mins interview with John carpenter about his Directing career and the 3rd blu-ray version is this new 2 Disc blu-ray Collectors edition from Shout/scream factory who have given the film a new 2k High Definition make over and it's a big improvement from the previous blu-ray versions the picture quality does look stunning very nice sharp & clear picture quality in 2:35:1 widescreen No Grain or Dirt in the picture shout/scream factory really made the effort for this old classic film sorry to say that the sound quality is the same the usual 5.1 Master audio mix when a 6.1 mix could've easily been added as an Audio option plus some extras aswell which are the 2 Audio commentaries from the 2003 dvd John carpenter,Kurt russell & Debra Hill, Joe Alves plus a new 3rd commentary by Dean cundey & Adrienne Barbeau Disc 2 has the rest of the special features, new & old RETURN TO ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK featurette from the very old 2003 dvd release plus the 1 Deleted scene & Theatrical trailer, Photo Gallery the new special features are BIG CHALLENGES IN LITTLE MANHATTAN is a special effects featurette-14mins new interview with Director of Photography Dennis skotak & Unit matte artist Robert skotak SCORING THE ESCAPE which is new interview with music composer Alan Howarth-20mins ON SET WITH JOHN CARPENTER which is a new interview with Still Photographer Kim Gottlieb walker who was the main Photographer on John carpenter's films she took Photos of the cast & crew on the behind the scenes shooting of Escape from New york and other John's films very interesting interview-11mins I AM TAYLOR interview with Actor Joe unger who played alongside kurt russell in the bank robbery scene which was Deleted from the final cut of the film, goes for 9mins i found it pointless interview actually there was no point adding it to this new blu-ray MY NIGHT ON THE SET 5 min interview with David Decoteau, again another pointless interview Shout/scream factory should have got a new interview with John carpenter for this new blu-ray not these 2 new interviews that are probably pointless, waste of time there's also a new Audio commentary with Dean cundey & Adrienne Barbeau at least 3 hours of content can be put on 1 Blu-ray disc which is more than 1 DVD's worth so the special features & the film could have easily fit on 1 Blu-ray Disc but for some reason shout factory spread the film & the extras over 2 Discs, ridiculous waste if you love Escape from new York get this new 2k transfer blu-ray with old & new extras 5 stars for the blu-ray