Is 1997 and New York is now a prison, when the president's plane crashes into the island Bob Hauk (Lee Van Cleef) the police commissioner, must get the president out of the island in 24 hours so the president can be in an important meeting for the peace of the world. Hauk left the mission in "Snake" Plissken (Kurt Russell), an ex war-hero, with the promise that he would left Snake without any accusation. To make sure that "Snake" rescue the president, Hauk implant in him two capsules that will explode within 22 hours.<br /><br />That is the main plot of this sci-fi cult classic of John Carpenter, and for me is one of my favourite stories in sci-films ever. The idea of New York as a prison is nothing but original and really good, and the visual part of this film is really cool; lots of films in this days will die for an environment like the one that Carpenter creates.<br /><br />The cast is great, Kurt Russell makes one of his best performances ever for one of the best characters in sci-fi films: "Snake". And with the participation of Lee Van Cleef (The Good, the bad and the ugly), Isaac Hayes as "The Duke" and the great Harry Dean Stanton (Paris Texas) as "Brain" makes this as a amazing cast that is the perfect complement for the great story of Carpenter.<br /><br />So this is nothing but an exciting film, now a true cult classic and Carpenter teach us that you don't need the biggest budget to make one of the best sci-fi/action films ever because this film budget is $7,000,000 so is nothing if we compare to Hollywood latest films.<br /><br />Conclusion: i highly recommend this cult classic and you must know that "Snake" is not dead, prove to that is that 26 years later he is still one of the best characters ever. In the end of the film (which i love) we can see a resume of the personality of "Snake" and why he is not the classic hero.<br /><br />DVD: i have a single edition that doesn't contain bonus material so i wish that soon an special edition came in the Region 4.<br /><br />PS: i hear that is coming a remake of this film, i hope this respect the essence of the original and at least Carpenter will be the producer. I like to imagine a director like Robert Rodriguez making this remake.