It’s 1999 and a terrorist has taken over Air Force One. As she prepares to crash the plane, the president (Donald Pleasance) ejects in an escape pod over the prison island of Manhattan. A rescue mission is hastily put together, but the president is nowhere to be found. Out of options, Commissioner Hauk (Lee Van Cleef) turns to Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) for help. A former Special Forces operative and bona fide war hero turned bank robber, Snake is offered a deal: bring back the president and a tape of vital importance within 24 hours and freedom will be his. Snake accepts, and Hauk fools him into taking a false vaccine containing microscopic explosives. If the president isn’t delivered on time the explosives will go off, killing Plissken. Sneaking into the city via glider and landing atop the World Trade Center, Snake discovers that the president has fallen into the hands of The Duke (Isaac Hayes), the warlord ruler of Manhattan. Enlisting the help of theater loving taxi driver Cabbie (Ernest borgnine), former backstabbing partner Brain (Harry Dean Stanton) and his bodyguard Maggie (Adrienne Barbeau), Snake is captured by the Duke’s men in a foiled rescue attempt. As Snake is thrown into a gladiatorial ring to fight for his life, Brain and Maggie take the opportunity to rescue the president. Their successful escape provides a distraction for Snake to slip away, reconnecting with the fugitives at the World Trade Center. The glider is destroyed in a fight against some of the crazed denizens of New York, forcing Snake to find a new escape route.

As the Duke’s men pursue them and the deadline looms closer, Snake and his companions are forced into a high speed chase across a mined bridge in a final bid for freedom.

Carpenter’s hit movie still keeps its vitality after three decades. With most of the movie taking place at night, ample debris on the streets and ruined looking buildings, the ambiance on the prison city of Manhattan is absolutely perfect. High level acting isn’t a requirement for most Carpenter movies, but the characters are original and likeable, if somewhat one dimensional.

The plot contains just enough twists to keep the ball rolling, and the time factor on Plissken’s imminent demise lends a healthy sense of urgency to the flow of the movie. Definitely a must see.