Escape from the Bronx

Fun Facts

Also Known As

(original title) - Fuga dal Bronx
Australia (DVD box title) - Escape from the Bronx - 1990: Bronx Warriors II
Brazil - Fuga do Bronx
Spain - Fuga del Bronx
Finland - Pako Bronxista
France - Les guerriers du Bronx 2
Greece - Apodrasi apo to Bronx
Norway - Terror i Bronx
Peru - El escape del Bronx: La batalla de Manhattan
Portugal - A Batalha de Bronx
Turkey - Son Adam: Escape from the Bronx
Europe - Bronx Warriors 2
Germany - The Riffs II - Flucht aus der Bronx
World-wide (English title) - Escape 2000

Tagline

The first to die were the lucky ones!

Main Details

Released in 1983
Color
Running Time:
Production Co: Fulvia Film
Distribution Co: New Line Cinema (1983) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)

Cast and Crew

Directed by Enzo G. Castellari
Written by Tito Carpi, Enzo G. Castellari
Starring Mark Gregory, Henry Silva, Valeria D'Obici, Giancarlo Prete, Paolo Malco, Ennio Girolami, Antonio Sabato
Produced by Fabrizio De Angelis
Music by Francesco De Masi
Cinematography by Blasco Giurato
Film Editing by Gianfranco Amicucci

Film Review

Template:Enzo Castellari Template:Post Apocalypse

At this point, I'm pretty sure you know what Mystery Science Theater 3000 is. But for those who have no idea about it, MST3K is a TV show in which the host (either Joel Hodgson or Mike Nelson) and two robots named Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot watch bad movies from the 40's to the 90's and provide hilarious commentary at the same time. Although I really love the show since it's absolutely funny and makes me want to watch these films without commentary, it also creates unintentional humor. If you look at almost every film that's appeared on the show on the IMDb website, you'll see that some of these get lower scores than what they should have. Sure, MST3K shows unwatchable stuff like Red Zone Cuba and Monster-A-Go-Go, but some people may instantly think that Laserblast, The Pumaman, and Santa Claus Conquers The Martians are bad movies since they appeared on MST3K. I disagree with that since, besides those three movies, there are films on MST3K that aren't as bad as what many people remember. I know that these films aren't Citizen Kane or Ben Hur, but they have enjoyable moments and some cinematic value. This leads me to another film that falls into that category: Escape from the Bronx.

Escape from the Bronx (a.k.a."Escape 2000" or "Leave the Bronx"...as what they repeatedly say at the beginning of this film) is a sequel to 1990: The Bronx Warriors. Several years after the events in original film, General Construction Corporation wants to devastate the whole Bronx in order to create a new, glorious city. So they send a private army in order to capture or kill those who decide to stay in Bronx. Of course, the company president blatantly lies saying "We never kill anyone there. We pay money to those people so they can leave the Bronx and live in our planned community in New Mexico". Yep, what actually happens is that those people who are captured are killed in one way or another. This pisses off Trash, our hero, and his gangsters so they decide to kidnap the president of GCC in order to stop the madness.

Although the film has a really interesting theme about corporate corruption, a decent soundtrack and amazing action sequences, it's somehow weaker than the original film. The chase sequence between a private army and our heroes just goes on and on and on. It slowly becomes a boring scene and at that point, I didn't care how the film was going to end.

Is this film as bad as what many people say? No! There are interesting moments here and there. For instance, there's a subplot about an annoying journalist who tries to expose how evil GCC is. Although she drives me mad (don't worry, she gets killed in the middle of this film), she's the one who actually comes up with the plan about kidnapping the president of GCC and she's a character that knows what happens inside and outside The Bronx. Sometimes, if you want to win a "war", you need to know what you and your rival have in common and what their weakness is. What about the corrupt corporation? Well, they hire a prison warden named Floyd Wangler (played by Henry Silva) to be a commander in the operation. What they probably don't know is that Floyd is infamous for his sadistic ways, which means that he won't obey any order from a company. Although we have no idea why Floyd becomes an insane person, we learn that the idealistic "corporation that always have a good intention when it comes to people" doesn't work due to many factors like this.

I may be over-analyzing this film, but hey...at least it's not that bad. It's worse than its prequel for sure, but 3.7 on IMDb? Come on! This is another film that you don't have to take too seriously and you can enjoy it, even with out Mike/Joel and the bots. Check it out.

Reviewed by Nuttawut Permphithak - 2/20/15