"Escape 2000" isn't all that bad, even for an Italian knock off. But it should have come with a promotional poster like the old 'generic' foods labels we used to see in grocery stores.
"ACTION MOVIE: Contents: Gunshots, Explosions, Stabbings, Flame throwers, Men in Silver Suits Being Thrown Off Catapults, Plot about Underdogs and Antiheroes vs. Greedy Corporations, Aerial Shots of City Skyscrapers, Unappealing Actors, Grainy Photography. 4 ESL Voice Actors (+ Henry Silva) used to dub entire screenplay. OTHER INGREDIENTS: "Oh Sure" moments used to bookend movie to preserve illusion of actual story telling,Inappropriately intense expressions and overacting, Long Frizzy Hair and Heavy Metal guitar riffs."
I never saw the original "Bronx Warriors", so I don't know how this movie compares to it, and I may be losing some of the subtext for the story as a result. But as a standalone product, "Escape 2000" is obviously built around a 2nd rate plot and a 3rd rate screenplay, and further hampered by some 4th rate dubbing.
The main actors aren't all that bad. Henry Silva can't carry this film, but he's pretty smooth as the 'enforcer'; Mark Gregory ("Trash") is well cast as a scruffy, hardscrabble antihero, but he doesn't so much 'act' as 'project an attitude'. Still, he's OK too, if unexciting. Antonio Sabato gads it up as rebel gang-leader "Dablone", the only really 'larger than life' presence in the film - he's fun to watch, if somewhat tiresome. But it all comes out in these badly mixed, monotonic ESL grunts that pretty much muffle any subtlety and range that the actors might have put into their speeches. I feel bad for them - I can imagine that Gregory thought this might be his big break in America, only to hear his voice on screen make him sound like a dimbulb and a lug when he saw this version.
The other big problem is that the screenplay makes all the characters strictly one-note stereotypes. There's no depth to the characters, no variety to what they have to say or the way they say it. Nothing they do surprises the viewer. And there's a deadening sameness to all the action scenes - the same explosions, the same gunshot Foley sounds, the same grimaces and reaction shots.
Still, I've seen much worse - I've even seen much worse from the Italian film industry in the 60's-80's. "Hercules Vs. Machiste in the Vale of Woe" and "Devil Fish" makes "Escape 2000" look like Oscar material. I'd have to say this one is for fans of the original "Bronx Warriors" and people who need an action movie "fix" and aren't to choosy about what they watch to get that fix. I'd also sure that I'd like it a lot better (at least 5 out of 10 instead of 3) if I knew Italian and could watch it in the original language instead of this tin-eared, rachet-jawed English dub.
"ACTION MOVIE: Contents: Gunshots, Explosions, Stabbings, Flame throwers, Men in Silver Suits Being Thrown Off Catapults, Plot about Underdogs and Antiheroes vs. Greedy Corporations, Aerial Shots of City Skyscrapers, Unappealing Actors, Grainy Photography. 4 ESL Voice Actors (+ Henry Silva) used to dub entire screenplay. OTHER INGREDIENTS: "Oh Sure" moments used to bookend movie to preserve illusion of actual story telling,Inappropriately intense expressions and overacting, Long Frizzy Hair and Heavy Metal guitar riffs."
I never saw the original "Bronx Warriors", so I don't know how this movie compares to it, and I may be losing some of the subtext for the story as a result. But as a standalone product, "Escape 2000" is obviously built around a 2nd rate plot and a 3rd rate screenplay, and further hampered by some 4th rate dubbing.
The main actors aren't all that bad. Henry Silva can't carry this film, but he's pretty smooth as the 'enforcer'; Mark Gregory ("Trash") is well cast as a scruffy, hardscrabble antihero, but he doesn't so much 'act' as 'project an attitude'. Still, he's OK too, if unexciting. Antonio Sabato gads it up as rebel gang-leader "Dablone", the only really 'larger than life' presence in the film - he's fun to watch, if somewhat tiresome. But it all comes out in these badly mixed, monotonic ESL grunts that pretty much muffle any subtlety and range that the actors might have put into their speeches. I feel bad for them - I can imagine that Gregory thought this might be his big break in America, only to hear his voice on screen make him sound like a dimbulb and a lug when he saw this version.
The other big problem is that the screenplay makes all the characters strictly one-note stereotypes. There's no depth to the characters, no variety to what they have to say or the way they say it. Nothing they do surprises the viewer. And there's a deadening sameness to all the action scenes - the same explosions, the same gunshot Foley sounds, the same grimaces and reaction shots.
Still, I've seen much worse - I've even seen much worse from the Italian film industry in the 60's-80's. "Hercules Vs. Machiste in the Vale of Woe" and "Devil Fish" makes "Escape 2000" look like Oscar material. I'd have to say this one is for fans of the original "Bronx Warriors" and people who need an action movie "fix" and aren't to choosy about what they watch to get that fix. I'd also sure that I'd like it a lot better (at least 5 out of 10 instead of 3) if I knew Italian and could watch it in the original language instead of this tin-eared, rachet-jawed English dub.