Now, I'm not opposed to remakes outright. Some are as good, if not superior, to their originals. This includes John Carpenter's own THE THING, a remake of the 1951 horror film THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. However, to be fair, remakes are also often really terrible, like the remake of John Carpenter's THE FOG or his own remake of THE VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED.
This is all to say, that while I'm not excited about an ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK remake, I'm not against it either. Neal Cross, creator of the BBC crime series LUTHER, is behind the remake, after winning over several other competing writers and concepts.
So what makes his version so special? Well, The Wrap reportedly has some exclusive tidbits about the project.
Obviously, SPOILERS BELOW. READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL!
So, for one thing, we finally get Snake's real name (because that's something that's necessary): Colonel Robert “Snake” Plissken. Okay. Sure.
We also know that the film will actually open to see just how Robert Plissken was arrested and forced into the plot (the original also had this scene, but was wisely deleted before release).
Lee Van Cleef's character will now be gender-swapped to be a badass woman, CIA Deputy Executive Director Roberta Hauk. Cue internet fanboys crying.
The biggest change, however, is that New York is not a maximum security prison in this one. In fact, it's a technological utopia! Here's how it's described via the report:
New York is breathtakingly lovely. Manhattan is the island we know, but with more towering glass structures and a high, undulating glass wall. The sky is alive with drones as serene as bees, and artificial intelligence controls all in the form of an ethnically ambiguous, cheery young woman called April. A small staff of technicians and researchers known as “Seers” monitor all.
His mission, which he now has to compete in 11 hours instead of 22 hours (because of modern audience's short attention span, I guess), is to capture the remake's villain Thomas Newton, "the lean, intensely charismatic…playboy heir to an agrochemical and biotech corporation." No sign of the President or Duke of New York anywhere.
Also there's something about a dangerous hurricane and a weird device called The Fat Boy — "an ominous, dull metal sphere about the size of a car, in a nest of conduits and cabling" that will probably factor in the climax somehow.
Anyway, that's the lowdown. Honestly, I'm intrigued. I appreciate that it's trying to say something different about our times. In the '80s there was a fear of crime and gangs overrunning our streets, which was taken to extremes in the film. However, in the 2000's, the fear is about corporations privatizing everything, with a lack of personal privacy and a sense of false security. This of course isn't new territory, but seeing a rough and tumble Snake (I mean Robert) navigate a city that's basically a super-sized Apple store could be an interesting visual contrast. At least it's something we haven't really see him do before.
It could also really suck. So what do you guys think about the remake? Yay or nay?