Reviews

Writer-director John Carpenter’s smart, dystopian thriller Escape From New York was re-released on regular DVD and Blu-ray this week.

Made in 1981 it imagines a futuristic New York where crime has spiralled out of control to the point where Manhattan has been turned into a maximum security prison.

When Air Force One crashes over the island, the prison governor (Lee Van Cleef) recruits a notorious criminal named “Snake” Plissken (Kurt Russell) to go in and rescue the leader of the free world.

The major snag is that he has less than 24 hours to complete his mission and must survive in a completely lawless and hostile environment.

Although the premise stems from anxieties about New York that now seem dated, the film holds up remarkably well with the visuals, acting and a pulsating electronic score all adding to the mix.

The extras on both releases include:

• Return to Escape from New York: A 23 minute featurette on the making of the film with interviews and insight from cast and crew.
• John Carpenter Interview: A new and exclusive 30 minute interview with the writer-director about the film.
• Snakes Crime: The deleted opening scene where Snake robs a federal bank.
• Commentary: John Carpenter and Kurt Russell, which is highly engaging and informative.

There are also three theatrical trailers including this one:

The Blu-ray version is presented in 1080P 2.35:1 Widescreen (VC1) with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio.

> Buy it on regular DVD or Blu-ray from Amazon UK
> Escape from New York at the IMDb
> More information on the film at The Official John Carpenter site

One of the consequences of the recent hook up between Optimum and Studio Canal is that a selection of Arnold Schwarzenegger action movies from the 80s and 90s have been re-released in a box set and as individual titles.

The best of these is Total Recall, the 1990 sci-fi adaptation of Philip K Dick’s story ‘We Can Remember It For You Wholesale‘ which stars Arnold as blue collar worker who dreams of Mars.

When he visits a company who can offer him a virtual holiday by implanting memories it inadvertently unlocks his ‘real’ past as a secret agent and he then has to escape to the red planet for real.

Directed by Paul Verhoeven (after the success of RoboCop in 1987) it is definitely the best of Schwarzenegger’s films between the two Terminators and contains some interesting ideas, even if the emphasis is skewed towards action.

The production design is still impressive and the visual effects by Rob Bottin still stand up very well - in many ways they foreshadow how SFX as a whole would develop in the 90s with films like T2 and The Matrix.

One of the highlights on the extras is an excellent commentary with Verhoeven and Schwarzenegger recorded for the previous Special Edition, as they complement each other very well.

Arnold seems especially amused at some of the more gruesome scenes whilst Verhoeven has many thoughtful riffs and views on the plot twists and themes of the story.

The director also frequently reveals that he wanted the film to be even more violent (one scene in particular sent the MPAA crazy) which is saying something, as it is probably one of the most brutal mainstream action films of its era.

That said it is still a solidly entertaining and at times surprisingly clever slice of sci-fi.

The other extras include:

• Imagining Total Recall: A fine 30 minute featurette exploring the original Philip K Dick story and how it came to the screen. Paul Verhoeven, screenwriter Ron Shussett (who also write Alien) and Schwarzenegger all give solid contributions.
• Making of Total Recall: A more modest 8 minute on set making of feature from 1990 that was presumably a TV promo from 1990.
• Vision of Mars: Another short piece (5 mins) on how Mars was visualised for the film.
• There are also storyboard comparisons and the requisite trailers and TV Spots.

Here is the original theatrical trailer:

The Blu-ray version is presented in 1080P 2.35:1 Widescreen (VC1) with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio.

However, it doesn’t feature any of the extras on the regular DVD disc, so unless you are desperate for the HD version of the film I think the regular DVD with the extras is much better value.

I realise it may be a space issue on the discs but if Blu-ray is going to take off as a format, extras are an essential part of any DVD package.

> Buy on DVD or Blu-Ray at Amazon UK
> Total Recall at the IMDb
> Reviews of the film at Metacritic
> Find out more about Total Recall at WIkipedia

The DVD highlight of the week is this special edition re-release of The Elephant Man - the superb 1980 period drama about the life of Joseph Merrick.

Based on the real story of a man so disfigured he was dubbed ‘the Elephant Man’, it explores how he was taken in by a doctor and his struggle to be recognised as a dignified human being in Victorian London.

Notable for being director David Lynch’s second feature (after Eraserhead) it features a raft of excellent performances from the likes of Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Michael Elphick, Hannah Gordon and Freddie Jones.

However, in the lead role John Hurt is mesmerising, despite being buried under a lot of (quite brilliant) make-up which took hours each day to apply.

Although he would go on to have considerable success as an actor - often in supporting roles - this perhaps remains his greatest screen performance.

It is also a moving study of an individual struggling to come to terms with deformity and being a social outcast.

Another interesting aspect of the film is that it was produced by Mel Brooks, who became instrumental in getting the film made after his wife Anne Bancroft gave him the script to read.

When viewed in the context of Lynch’s career it has may seem different to his darker films such as Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart or Mulholland Drive but it demonstrates his early skills as a filmmaker and his taste for the fringes of society.

The extras include the following:

• Joseph Merrick - The Real Elephant Man: An highly informative 20 minute featurette on the real life of Merrick introduced by Jonathan Evans, an archivist of Royal London Hospital Museum. He describes the historical context but also explores the differences between the film and Merrick’s actual life. One of the most interesting snippets is that Merrick sought out his career in a freak show as a way to make money and that he was not such a victim as the film presents. It also speculates what disease Merrick was actually suffering from, a question that continues to baffle medical historians.
• Interview with John Hurt: In a 20 minute interview, the actor describes various aspects of his experience playing the role: how he based his physical movements on a corkscrew; the unlikely success of the film in Japan; working with fellow actors Anthony Hopkins, John Gielgud, Michael Elphick and Hannah Gordon; the difficulty of the shoot, how he completed all of his work in between making Heaven’s Gate in two parts (he notes that the whole of The Elephant Man cost less than the prologue of Heaven’s Gate!); the studio exec who didn’t know how to sell the film and how he kept some of the props from the film.
• Interview with David Lynch: Another revealing 20 minute interview, this time with director David Lynch. He reveals several things about working on the film such as: his struggles after Eraserhead when he couldn’t find financing for his own script called ‘Ronnie Rocket’; how the pitch for The Elephant Man immediately appealed to him; the initial resistance to the project from studios; how Anne Bancroft loved the script and gave it to her husband (and producer) Mel Brooks; how Brooks loved Eraserhead and supported Lynch throughout the production; the origins of the script; the ‘beyond-the-beyond great’ cast who Brooks helped recruit; the importance of veteran cinematographer Freddie Francis in shooting the film in black and white; the makeup for Merrick, which Lynch actually worked on in a garage Wembley for a time before makeup artist Chris Tucker took over; how Hurt underwent 6-8 hours of makeup every day to become Merrick; the importance of visiting an old Victorian hospital and how only wants to work on digital film.

It also contains the original theatrical trailer:

Overall the extras are very good without being spectacular but this remains an excellent film, well worth checking out if you don’t already own it.

> Buy the DVD from Amazon UK
> The Elephant Man at the IMDb
> Find out more about the real Joseph Merrick at Wikipedia

On this week’s review podcast we look at Man on Wire, The X-Files: I Want to Believe and The Love Guru.

Listen to the review podcast here:

Download and subscribe to the review podcast via iTunes by clicking here

> Download this review as an MP3 file
> The X-Files: I Want to Believe, The Love Guru and Man on Wire at the IMDb
> Listen to our Man on Wire interview with Philippe Petit
> Get local showtimes via Google Movies