Escape from L.A. (1996)

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by motorheadache95

Oh man, you think that's bad, I watched The Mummy (1999) recently, and holy hell, those are the worst holding-up special effects I've ever seen. I couldn't even believe we all thought it was passable at the time.

There were people complaining back then that the early CGI stuff looked terrible! I was one of them. Unfortunately we were drowned out by the masses who thought it looked great.

[IntelliVolume]

Originally Posted by levcore

That's nuts, the FX in the first Mummy are fantastic, Mummy Returns has far more ambitious and as a result far less convincing CG.

I agree lev; you can't even begin to compare The Mummy's CGI/SFX with Escape From L.A. They definitely need to go back in and fix some of those sequences in Carpenter's Escape From New York sequel...

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

There were people complaining back then that the early CGI stuff looked terrible! I was one of them. Unfortunately we were drowned out by the masses who thought it looked great.

Didn't like CG until I saw Jurassic Park, and even that film has it's weaker moments in that arena.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

There were people complaining back then that the early CGI stuff looked terrible! I was one of them. Unfortunately we were drowned out by the masses who thought it looked great.

Aye, I thought it was kinda ropey but passable seeing as I dug the movie, and still do. Mummy 2's stuff really was utterly awful though and there's no revisionism going on there, as the CG Scorpion King will probably go down in history as ILM's biggest flub. But then I enjoy Mummy 2 as well (LOVE that fight between Evie and Nefertiri) so the woeful CG somehow adds to the charm - not unlike my experience when watching EFLA.

It is what it is, if you enjoy the movie then it's so much easier to overlook any perceived shortcomings.

[levcore]

Originally Posted by IntelliVolume

I agree lev; you can't even begin to compare The Mummy's CGI/SFX with Escape From L.A. They definitely need to go back in and fix some of those sequences in Carpenter's Escape From New York sequel...

Yeah I mean The Mummy looks really good today still. The actual creature itself is incredibly sharp and detailed, loads of awesome textures in there, good animation. OK its design it a little cartoony but the CG work is wonderful. You also have the sandstorm which yes shows its age but frankly it fantastic particle simulations or whatever and still looks damn good.

I'm not saying The Mummy fx haven't aged but they are so much better than anything in EFLA!

[levcore]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Aye, I thought it was kinda ropey but passable seeing as I dug the movie, and still do. Mummy 2's stuff really was utterly awful though and there's no revisionism going on there, as the CG Scorpion King will probably go down in history as ILM's biggest flub. But then I enjoy Mummy 2 as well (LOVE that fight between Evie and Nefertiri) so the woeful CG somehow adds to the charm - not unlike my experience when watching EFLA.

It is what it is, if you enjoy the movie then it's so much easier to overlook any perceived shortcomings.

I love the design of the scorpion king himself so I've always given it a pass for that. I've always said the body is fine, it's just the face that is bad. The design of the creature is fantastic.

Let's bear in mind that ILM did offer to fix it for the DVD release but they were declined.

[TylerDurden389]

I remember being around 13 or so when I saw "Air Force One" and laughing quite a bit when the plane finally crashes into the ocean at the end. They should've just made it explode or something.

As for EFLA's CGI, I always say this. I get a 2 for 1 when I watch this movie. On the one hand, I get to watch a "basic" action movie with a kick ass action star, great cast, and good PRACTICAL effects (plus I love the political commentary). However, at the same time when it comes to the CGI, I get to go into my "so bad it's good" mode and watch this movie like I'm watching Toxic Avenger or Riki-Oh lol.

**Edit** And dare I say it, when it comes to watching a FUN Carpenter flick, this is in my top 5. Right up there with They Live and BTILC.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Whoever said this a 50 million dollar film that shoud have looked a hell of lot better was dead on. That killed it quite a bit. It was very ambitious with the whole Disneyland thing at the end, but John Carpenter has never been much of an action director. Wish it turned out better as I absolutely love Escape From New York.

[Brett C]

Originally Posted by Obi-Wan Kenobi

Whoever said this a 50 million dollar film that shoud have looked a hell of lot better was dead on. That killed it quite a bit. It was very ambitious with the whole Disneyland thing at the end, but John Carpenter has never been much of an action director. Wish it turned out better as I absolutely love Escape From New York.

15 of that 50 Million went straight off the top to Carpenter who was payed 5 million and Russell who was payed 10 million.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by TylerDurden389

I remember being around 13 or so when I saw "Air Force One" and laughing quite a bit when the plane finally crashes into the ocean at the end. They should've just made it explode or something.

As for EFLA's CGI, I always say this. I get a 2 for 1 when I watch this movie. On the one hand, I get to watch a "basic" action movie with a kick ass action star, great cast, and good PRACTICAL effects (plus I love the political commentary). However, at the same time when it comes to the CGI, I get to go into my "so bad it's good" mode and watch this movie like I'm watching Toxic Avenger or Riki-Oh lol.

**Edit** And dare I say it, when it comes to watching a FUN Carpenter flick, this is in my top 5. Right up there with They Live and BTILC.

Yup, and what makes that bit in AFO so much worse is that the rest of the VFX is pretty darned good. Helps that a lot of it takes place in darkened skies though.

[Bates_Motel]

I do feel the movie gets a bum rap, mostly because people just didn't "get" what they were trying to do. EFNY reflected the dirty, grungy, dangerous NYC of the 70s, whereas LA reflected the silly, almost comical facade that is Angeles still is to this day. The basketball sequence worked because LA is known for the Lakers. The surfing, the maps to the stars, the plastic surgeon... it's all tongue-in-cheek because living in LA is also, at any times, tongue-in-cheek itself.

Does that make it sillier? Partly. Are there parts in the film that are silly that could've been played straighter? Sure. But other than the CGI and that one scene from the trailer that wasn't in the final cut that always bothered me, I found it a worthy companion piece to the original.

[morningtoke]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

There were people complaining back then that the early CGI stuff looked terrible! I was one of them. Unfortunately we were drowned out by the masses who thought it looked great.

Hey, I thought the Mummy looked great lol. I still think it does, actually. That opening scene of Ancient Egypt is one of my favorite scenes ever.

[WaverBoy]

I think this movie's a helluva lot of fun, one of John's most unfairly maligned and underrated films. I'd love a Scream Factory special edition. It's time for ESCAPE FROM L.A. to get its due.

[hYPE]

Originally Posted by WaverBoy

I think this movie's a helluva lot of fun, one of John's most unfairly maligned and underrated films. I'd love a Scream Factory special edition. It's time for ESCAPE FROM L.A. to get its due.

I love L.A. just as much as Escape from New York we all know that Escape from New York is a better film but like you said it is definitely a underrated gem of the 90's. If Shout got it's hands on this film I would flip!

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Aye, I thought it was kinda ropey but passable seeing as I dug the movie, and still do. Mummy 2's stuff really was utterly awful though and there's no revisionism going on there, as the CG Scorpion King will probably go down in history as ILM's biggest flub. But then I enjoy Mummy 2 as well (LOVE that fight between Evie and Nefertiri) so the woeful CG somehow adds to the charm - not unlike my experience when watching EFLA.

It is what it is, if you enjoy the movie then it's so much easier to overlook any perceived shortcomings.

Yeah, and let's not kid ourselves; a lot of great movies, even in the holy 80's, had practical effects that looked a bit dodgy. We forgive when a movie is great, we harp when a movie is iffy, we laugh and mock when a movie is bad. It's all relative, I get that. I am known as a "CGI hater" a lot of the time but if I love a movie (Winter Soldier, Man of Steel, etc.) then I don't care that much.

P.S. Is Mummy 2 good? I remembered my 90's teen self hating it and only liking the original, so the original is the only one I own.

[Moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

P.S. Is Mummy 2 good? I remembered my 90's teen self hating it and only liking the original, so the original is the only one I own.

The first is the best of them, by far. The second one tried hard, but it suffered from the same fate as The Legend of Zorro...giving the heroes a super-intelligent child and shifting the story's focus to them more than anything else. As a result, the rest of the cast takes a back seat; only Anck-Su-Namun gets a bigger role compared to the original. A lot of the gags are lifted straight from the first as well, including a near-duplicate of Evelyn wrecking the library.

[Aclea]

I've always enjoyed it, but those effects always looked laughably bad. I saw the film at a test screening in LA and we were warned that the effects weren't all finished. We just assumed that that meant they were going to be finished by the time they released the movie.

We assumed wrong.

[Michael24]

Yeah, for me the effects are the only thing I don't really like. I enjoy the rest of the film well enough, even if it did fall into the trap (which Carpenter admits) of essentially copying the first one. The effects just stand out as particularly bad due to the studio reducing Carpenter's budget late in the game. I always prefer watching the original but I'd certainly buy a Special Edition Blu-ray just because it's Carpenter.

And blasphemous though it may be, I kinda prefer this film's main title version of the theme, too.

I remember a funny story Bruce Campbell told about working on the film. His first day on set, Kurt Russell came up to him and was like "Say 'workshed' from Evil Dead II." Campbell was taken aback and asked "How do you know about that?" and Russell said "Are you kidding me? My kids love that movie!" LOL!

[Ray Jackson]

I watched this last night on Netflix for the first time.

It's stunning to me that there are actually people who think this is better than the original.

That is some of the worst CGI you will ever see in a movie.

I bet it looked awful back in 1996.

I've seen better CGI on the Sci-Fi channel.

...Sharknado looks like Avatar compared to Escape From LA.

[rocknblues81]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I watched this last night on Netflix for the first time.

It's stunning to me that there are actually people who think this is better than the original.

That is some of the worst CGI you will ever see in a movie.

I bet it looked awful back in 1996.

I've seen better CGI on the Sci-Fi channel.

...Sharknado looks like Avatar compared to Escape From LA.

L.A. has terrible CGI, but I find the rest of the film to be fun. Just not as good as the original.