Escape from LA

In John Carpenter's shambolic, big-budget sequel to his far superior Escape from New York, Kurt Russell returns as macho hero Snake Plissken, who this time around is blackmailed into scouring the City of Angels for a doomsday device stolen by the president's daughter. Apart from the witty, face-lifted zombie section, this inept and unexciting rehash lacks the sharp black comedy of the original. Lacklustre special effects don't help, either, and this tedious empty vessel of worn-out science-fiction ideas must go down as another major disappointment from the once reliable genre maestro.