Why the new Escape from New York will be worth watching now

The “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” memo John Carpenter sent to those trying to remake his 1981 classic “Escape from New York” must have just arrived. Damn U.S Postal Service.

After numerous years trying to get a remake of the Carpenter-directed actioner up for years, Hollywood’s seemingly wised up to the fact that nobody wants to see a straight-up do-over of a perfectly good movie. As such, they’re retooling the project to be something that compliments that original film.

Originally, if a Google search serves me correctly, ’80s action man Joel Silver was the one trying to get a remake up – and it was a much different project than this incarnation. At the time, he had Brett Ratner (“X-Men : The Shitty One”) directing, with everyone from Jason Statham to Gerard Butler listed as a potential ‘Snake’.

According to The Wrap and Bloody Disgusting, Fox’s new “Escape from New York” will be a prequel set before the events of the first film. Yes, the film will still give us a new actor under the eye-patch previously worn by Kurt Russell (in “New York” and it’s sequel “Escape from L.A”) but at least the film itself will have a reason to exist now.

Carpenter mustn’t be against this idea, apparently he’s an executive producer on the project. That might just be a throwaway obligatory credit or it could mean the legendary filmmaker actually has a say in how this goes down (and who plays Snake Plissken).

Neal Cross, a writer on “Luther”, has been hired to pen the new script for the film.

And here’s how his script will differ from the original, according to The Wrap :

1.  Snake Plissken’s real name.

Plissken in the previous two “Escape” films didn’t have a name, but now he does: He’s Colonel Robert “Snake” Plissken.

2.  Our bad guy won’t be the Duke of New York.

Instead, he’s the lean, intensely charismatic Thomas Newton, the playboy heir to an agrochemical and biotech corporation. Five years ago, he decided to donate his entire fortune. Sounds like a good guy, right? He’s not.

3.  The role originated by Lee Van Cleef will now be played by a woman.

The film will introduce us to CIA Deputy Executive Director Roberta Hauk.

4.  New York City isn’t a maximum security prison.

Weird, right? Because New York being a prison was kind of crucial to the whole “escape from New York” concept. In the reboot, 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.

5.  The remake doesn’t start in New York City.

The original “Escape” film deleted the opening scene that showed how Snake Plissken was apprehended. The new version won’t. Its set in another major city, one not in the United States.

6.  The film imagines a world in chaos. 

Globally, one in every seventy five human begins is now either a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum.

7.  A hurricane is coming. 

It’s called Superstorm Ellery.

8.  April’s security won’t be as good as everyone hoped.

That will make the whole city vulnerable.

9.  Snake has only eleven hours to complete his mission.

In the original film, he had 22 hours. Plissken’s mission is to bring in Newton alive.

10.  Newton has a failsafe.

It’s a mysterious device called Fat Boy — an ominous, dull metal sphere about the size of a car, in a nest of conduits and cabling.

Fox are apparently structuring “New York” in a similar fashion to their recent “Apes” films in that there will be a new trilogy of films that eventually lead up to the events of the original movie. So, in other words, every film will be canon, connected, and ideally, ‘cool’.

Ironically, that’s the direction a remake of another Kurt Russell-John Carpenter classic went : “The Thing”.