﻿In today’s video, we will be going through the 1996 American Post Apocalyptic Sci-Fi
Film, Escape from L.A. Spoilers ahead! You have been
warned. Make sure to give this video a thumbs up, comment on what your favorite part was,
and subscribe to our channel for more. It is the year 1998; Los Angeles has become
extremely crime-ridden and decadent. The government is forced to ultimately place
it under the direct control of the newly created United States Police Force.
Two years later, on August 23, 2000, a massive earthquake strikes, wrecking the whole city.
As a result of the earthquake, the San Fernando Valley floods, turning the Los Angeles area into
an island from Malibu to Anaheim. A theocratic presidential candidate named Adam declares Los
Angeles to be sinful and punished by God. When he is elected president for life,
he relocates the capital to his hometown in Lynchburg, Virginia.
The newly elected President turns the United States into a theocratic totalitarian state
and announces the new "Moral America" law. His laws ban things such as tobacco, alcoholic
beverages, recreational drugs, red meat, firearms, profanity, atheism, non-Christian religions,
and extramarital sex. Those found guilty of indulging
in these things or activities are stripped of their citizenship and deported to Los Angeles
Island unless they repent and choose death by electrocution. Safe to say that if we were living
in President Adam’s America, most of us would be rotting in the prison island right now.
The island is surrounded by a containment wall with armed guards and watchtowers
everywhere. Those sent to the island are exiled permanently.
It is now the year 2013. A man named Bob “Snake” Plissken is brought to the Firebase Seven,
the deportation center for Los Angeles Island, amid heavy security and huge media presence.
Plissken is considered the most infamous outlaw in the history of the United States,
convicted of 27 moral crimes. However, Plisseken was once considered a war hero who served in
the US special forces and rescued the previous American President during an Army operation.
Armed men escort Plissken into the premises. Inside the loud and chaotic facility,
a female officer slits Plissken’s hand with a strange sharp object attached to her finger.
Plissken doesn’t think much of it and is then taken to a room, and two officers and a man in
a suit follow him. Plissken quickly realizes that the government wants something out of him.
The female officer then reveals that last Wednesday, a group of government officials,
including the President’s daughter, Utopia, were touring Benford Space Defense Lab.
Utopia somehow managed to steal a top-secret prototype in a black box and boarded the Air
Force Three plane and hijacked it. For the uninitiated, Air Force Three is
supposed to be an air traffic control sign held by any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the
third most important person in the United States, much like Air Force One, which carries the most
important person in the US: The President. Utopia then recorded a message denouncing the
President and threatening the use of the top-secret
prototype contained on the US unless the president opens American borders allowing all incarcerated
people on the island back to the country. Using the escape pod on the plane, she then fled
to LA. The government sent a 5-man rescue team. Within a few hours of landing, all but one were
killed. Upon further investigation, the government found Utopia’s connections to a man named Cuervo
Jones, a Shining Path Peruvian Revolutionary. He seduced the president's daughter, Utopia,
via a holographic system and brainwashed her into stealing the black box.
Plissken is to retrieve the box, but he refuses to help after he is denied information about the
contents of the top-secret black box. The man in the suit then reveals that he is the President.
He tells Plissken if he does as he says, Plissken will receive a pardon for every
immoral act he has committed and indicates he does not care about Utopia's return,
declaring her a traitor. Plissken still rejects the offer.
Pissed, Commander Mac Malloy reveals that Plissken will be injected with a
genetically engineered Plutoxin 7 Virus which causes a complete nervous system breakdown
making one bleed out like a stuck pig. Plissken threatens to kill anyone who comes
near him to inject him with any such thing. The female officer then reveals that she already
injected him with the virus in the hallway and activates the countdown of the designer virus.
GOD! She is ruthless. Plissken learns that he has 10 hours to live,
but there’s an antidote that neutralizes the virus immediately upon injection. Pissed,
Plissken attacks President Adam but quickly realizes that he was talking to a hologram.
Left with no choice, Plissken is forced to cooperate. It is then revealed that LA is
being primed as a beachhead for an invasion of the US. Cuervo Jones’s Shining Path group
wants to take over North America and has united third world nations.
Carrying an assault rifle, a personal holographic projector, a thermal camouflage overcoat,
and a countdown clock, Snake Plissken sneaks into the city using a one-man submarine.
He loses the submarine when the platform it lands on crumbles, causing it to sink.
Different parts of the island are run by various groups and gangs. Moreover, earthquakes are very
common and frequent on the island. There he meets a surfer named Pipeline. The surfer is an
admirer of Plissken’s glorious criminal career and directs him to his destination.
Plissken reaches the Hollywood Bowl, where the last surviving member of the rescue team is kept.
Using the tracker in his watch, he locates the man only to find his dead body in a hotel being used
by a gang as recreational target practice. Plissken then asks a woman at the hotel about
Cuervo’s whereabouts and heads straight towards Sunset Boulevard. At the Boulevard,
Plissken comes across the extravagant Cuervo riding in a convertible with Utopia by his
side and a motorcade following him. He invites everyone to the Happy Kingdom
for the last party before he invades the United States. Plissken subverts one of the motorcyclists
in his motorcade and follows him. He soon catches Cuervo and his men’s attention
while unsuccessfully shooting Cuervo, causing an explosion. Cuervo recognizes Plissken and
astonishingly watches as Plissken jumps from one vehicle to another, killing his men one by one,
getting closer and closer to him. A furious Cuervo traps Plissken in a Bolas,
making him fall on the ground. Bolas is a type of throwing weapon made of weights on the ends
of interconnected cords, used to capture animals by entangling their legs.
He then orders his men to finish Plissken and continues to head towards the party.
Plissken easily takes out his men but flees immediately when more of Cuervo’s men arrive,
forgetting his leather coat containing his weapons on the ground. It is then
picked up and worn by one of Cuervo’s men. Plissken then runs into "Map to the Stars" Eddie.
He sells interactive tours for a living. After learning of Plissken’s destination, Eddie
directs Plissken towards Beverly Hills. While passing through Beverly Hills, Plissken
is followed by the goons of the Surgeon General of Beverly Hills to steal his eyes and skin.
Bruce Campbell has a cameo in the film as the Surgeon General of Beverly Hills.
Campbell and Kurt Russell share the same stunt double, named John Casino. He had been doubling
for both of them for several years before this film and still does it for them to this day.
A woman named Taslima helps him getaway through the drainage tunnel. As he continues his journey,
Plissken again runs into Eddie, who offers to give him a lift to Cuervo’s palace in his car.
When Plissken gets distracted, Eddie injects him with drug-laced darts and sedates him.
Eddie reveals that he is Cuervo’s agent, and they are in Cuervo's car. The interactive
tour seller Eddie had deliberately sent Plissken through Beverly Hills
to get him killed at the hands of the Surgeon General. Talk about an interactive tour.
Plissken then gains consciousness in Cuervo’s palace, tied up. Eddie informs Cuervos’s men
that Plissken was sent by the US government to look for the black box and Utopia.
Plissken then overhears one of Cuervo’s technology experts talking about the remote
control unit in the black box. The instruction disk in the RC connects
to the "Sword of Damocles,” the ultimate defensive satellite weapon system.
The remote is capable of rendering all electronic devices like cars, airplanes,
toasters, computers, and even batteries anywhere on the planet useless. Using the remote, one can
pinpoint an accurate target, like a taxi cab in Buenos Aires, or the entire country of Spain.
The device can shut down the whole planet and send it back to the dark ages.
President Adam gets restless as he loses communication with Plissken. He expresses his
intention to bomb the island, but Commander Malloy warns him that upon seeing the US aircraft flying
towards the island, Cuervo could easily take down the aircraft and the entire United States with
the push of one button. Are you noticing that the movie was filmed almost entirely at night?
In fact, the production went seventy days without a daylight shoot.
Cuervo then goes live on Television with a message for the US president.
He shuts down Lynchburg, the US capital, as retaliation for sending Plissken to kill him.
He then threatens to shut down the entire United States if his demands are not fulfilled.
He then demands a police chopper to carry him out of the island at the Happy Kingdom by 5 am.
Now in control of the satellites, Cuervo intends to take over the United States with an
allied invasion force of third-world nations that are prepared to attack.
The President has lost all hopes; however, Commander Malloy is still
hopeful after seeing Plissken alive in the background of Cuervo’s live address.
After the broadcast, Plissken is taken to an arena with a massive crowd for Cuervo's
infamous deadly basketball challenge. Cuervo intends to fulfill his promise to the
audience of one last spectacle of death in the historic arena
with the death of the mighty Snake Plissken. The blood-hungry crowd cheers as Plissken enters the
basketball court surrounded by armed men. Plissken must shoot the basketball into the two
hoops alternately between 10-second shot-clock. The ball must be shot exactly when the 10-second
buzzer goes off. Each basket equals 2 points, and Plissken must score 10 points in total.
Missing a shot, breaking a rule, or losing the game will result in Plissken being sprayed with
bullets by the surrounding guards. Cuervo starts the timer, and Plissken
scores comfortably initially, but eventually, he starts getting tired and begins to struggle.
By the end, Plissken lags behind, but he manages to score by throwing the ball into the hoop
directly from one end, winning the challenge. A victorious Plissken proceeds to leave the
court when Cuervo starts to shoot at him from the stand as the armed guards just
watch. Tired of Cuervo’s bloodshed, Utopia prevents him from shooting Plissken.
Cuervo, adamant, pushes her aside and proceeds to shoot when another earthquake aftershock strikes,
and he fails to aim correctly. Plissken manages to run away.
Cuervo again sends Eddie to kill Plissken and heads towards the Happy Kingdom with Utopia.
However, Plissken subdues Eddie and takes him hostage. Eddie quickly changes his loyalty
and takes Plissken to someone named Hershe Las Palmas. She is a transgender woman who
was formerly Carjack Malone, a past criminal associate of Plissken. To get into character
as a transgender woman, actress Pam Grier would put a sock in her pants during shooting.
Plissken offers to help Hershe and her men flee the island if she collaborates with him.
During their conversation, Hershe jokingly reveals that Plutoxin 7 Virus is a lie
that is frequently used by the US government to intimidate people into cooperating.
Meanwhile, Cuervo arrives at the Happy Kingdom amid fanfare
and announces that the invasion has begun. This Happy Kingdom set was
actually the town square from "Back to the Future (1985)" at "Universal."
It was initially supposed to be Disneyland, but Disney didn't give them permission.
The warships have left Cuba and are estimated to reach Florida in 45 minutes. The US government
helicopter soon arrives at the venue. Cuervo and Utopia proceed to board the chopper when
Eddie comes flying in a hand-glider. After landing, he stalls Cuervo and distracts his men,
letting Plissken and his team come flying in hand-gliders and launch a surprise attack.
A deadly battle follows. Plissken lands on Cuervo, and they begin beating each other
up. Plissken eventually takes the Remote Control from him and knocks him out.
Plissken retrieves his leather coat and boards the chopper with Eddie, Hershe, and her men. If the
hero doesn’t miraculously retrieve his lost fancy leather coat, is it even a Hollywood movie?
Utopia also boards the chopper and pleads with Plissken to take her back with him.
Plissken then takes back the real Remote control from Eddie, who had exchanged it
with his fake one while stalling Cuervo. As the chopper takes off, it is bombarded with
bullets. Upon noticing Cuervo proceeding to shoot down the chopper with a hand-held surface-to-air
rocket launcher, Eddie shoots Cuervo dead but not before he fires the rocket.
Seeing the rocket headed towards the chopper, Eddie jumps out of the helicopter,
landing safely on an awning as the helicopter flies away. When the rocket hits the chopper,
it kills everyone inside, including Hershe. When the president's men reach the crash site,
Plissken remains alive even after his countdown clock reaches zero without taking any antidote,
realizing that Plutoxin 7 is only a potent influenza virus whose effects
wear off within hours of infection. The soldiers apprehend Utopia alive near the
crash site and bring her to the President. Surprised to see her alive, the president promises
to finish Plissken’s job himself later and proceeds to retrieve the remote control from
Plissken. However, finding Utopia alive and running away from the crash site, commander
Malloy suspects that Plissken is trying to trick the president by giving him the wrong remote.
He checks Utopia’s pocket to find another remote control. After checking the disc inside,
Commander Malloy announces that they will take the one that Utopia unknowingly held.
The president orders his men to take Utopia to the electric chair despite her pleas for
forgiveness and proceeds to address the world live on television. He demands an immediate
retreat of all forces advancing to attack the United States. He threatens to destroy each such
country’s ability to function permanently. Upon learning of Cuba’s continued aggression,
the president tries to use the satellites to stop a Cuban invasion force threatening Florida.
After activating the remote, he learns that it is fake and hears Eddie's cheerful "Map to the
Stars" interactive tour intro. Angered at his public humiliation,
the president orders his men to shoot Plissken and retrieve the real remote from him. At commander
Malloy’s command, the soldiers spray Plissken with bullets, but Plissken stands unscathed.
They realize that the real Plissken isn’t there, and it is his hologram.
Commander Malloy proceeds to send his men to look for Plissken within a half-mile radius
when Plissken draws the real remote control. The President asks Plissken whether he is going to
choose the Third world or America. Snake says, “the more things change, the more they stay
the same,” and activates the remote control and enters the world code, and ends all technological
activity on the entire planet. At the deportation center,
Utopia rejoices that Snake shut down the Earth and thus saved her. Snake lights a
cigarette and blows out the match used to light it, uttering, "Welcome to the human race."
Although this movie did not perform so well commercially during its release, it gained
a strong cult following over time. Thanks for watching! Make sure to like the
video if you enjoyed it and subscribe to the channel to see more of these movie summaries.