Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16116 in VHS
• Released on: 2000-06-05
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dolby, PAL, Surround Sound
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 94 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
In the future, crime is out of control and New York City is a maximum security prison. Grabbing a bargaining chip right out of the air, convicts bring down the President's plane in bad old Gotham. Gruff Snake Plissken, a one-eyed warrior new to prison life, is coerced into bringing the President, and his cargo, out of this land of undesirables. Kurt Russell puts his Disney days (he played the squeaky clean hero in such films as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, 1970) behind him as the nicest bad guy in the picture. All comic-book sensibilities and macho posturing, this is one of writer/director John Carpenter's better brainless escapades, brimming with snappy one-liners and explosive action scenes. However, the film lacks tension and some believability even within the realm of SF fantasy. Even when it fails to gel, though, it always manages to amuse, thanks in great part to a varied and unusual supporting cast (watch for Ernest Borgnine as a cabdriver and Isaac Hayes, one-time soul singer and now best known as South Park's chef, as The Duke of New York). Followed in 1996 by Carpenter's overdone and campy Escape from L.A. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Video Description
New York city is a maximum security prison operated by the newly formed United States Police Force. Completely walled in and virtually escape-proof, the city is a corrupt and devastated wasteland inhabited by 3 million criminals. When the President's plane crash there, he is taken prisoner by a gang of marauding criminalsand there is only one man who can get him out alive.

Synopsis
In this all-action tale New York exists as a maximum security prison. A daring rescue attempt is set up from this prison when the U.S. President's plane crash-lands inside.

Customer Reviews

Quality wise this is the worst blu ray i own
The quality of this blu ray release is horrible.
There is a lot of damage on the negative used for the master. I have had the opportunity of comparing this with a version recorded from HDTV and there is an incredible difference both with regards to the print damage but also to the quality of the picture since this is an upscaled master and therefore not in true HD resolution. In one of the scenes I compared lee van cleef's gold bracelet. On this blu ray the bracelet just looks like a gold colored piece of string while on the HDTV version (that is only 720P) you can count each individual link on the bracelet. The HDTV version also lacks all the "print damage" that is evident on the master used for this "blu ray".
There is also a lot of edge enhancement going on in this master.
This release is an insult to blu ray owners and John Carpenter fans alike...
Avoid!!
Personally I won't be buying any optimum blu rays since I feel that I have been swindled and cheated. If optimum makes good and releases a remastered blu ray I might forgive them.

A great film, but the Blu-ray transfer is appalling.


Well, I say Blu-ray "transfer" rather than Blu-ray "master" because I do not believe this is a high-definition master. The picture quality is atrocious, with cheap edge enhancement applied to the image in order to try to achieve a sharper image without paying for a proper HD master. Some SD masters look fine when upscaled on a good TV, but this supposed HD image actually looks vastly inferior to decent DVDs. If you like/love this film, as I do, then stick to your DVD of it. If you don't have it, either get the DVD or wait until the Blu-ray is reissued in a newer edition. To call this high definition is an insult to the format and even moreso to viewers like us whom the manufacturers seem to believe will buy anything they sell.

Avoid this release, but do try to see the movie.

This is an Upscaled SD master. Avoid
My impressions upon watching this Blu-ray were that it didn't look much better than a DVD. However it's an older film made low budget, so I thought maybe that was why. However other people on the net are now saying this Blu-ray is just and upscaled SD master. Now I don't find that hard to believe, because none of the quality in this film looked genuine. It's horribly edge enhanced and artificial looking. I saw a frame grab from the Blu-ray compared to a proper HD grab from a US HD broadcast of Escape From New York and the HD broadcast looked A) Much Better and B)like proper High Def. Shame on Optimum for releasing this shoddy *fake* High Def Blu-ray.

Avoid.