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Snake’s back.

John Carpenter’s Escape from New York is one of the greatest movies ever made, hands down. You’ve got post-apocalyptic destruction, intense action sequences, and a bad ass in an eye patch that goes by the name of Snake (and sometimes Plissken, if you can catch him on a good day).

In 1996, when I first saw the trailer for the sequel to this sci-fi/action classic in which our eye patch rocking anti-hero was back, this time to escape from Los Angeles of all places, without hesitation, I pissed my pants.

Then the movie came out and...it was OK.

It wasn’t that it was horrible - the rough CG didn’t help at all, and what was up with the Peter Fonda surf scene? – it just wasn’t original.

Escape from LA was basically Escape from New York Redux.

Peppered with essentially the same gags as its predecessor (a cast of off the wall characters, a chase scene with barely running automobiles, and a surprisingly similar death of a female lead), Escape from LA took very little advantage of any new storytelling or cinematic devices…

Save for one – The Suit Up Scene.

The set up goes like this:

The President’s daughter, Utopia, has stolen a prototype device that has the ability to trigger a satellite and “shut down the world.” Snake has been caught – again – and is ready to be sentenced to yet another hostile island prison, this time quake ridden Los Angeles. But, as always, he’s given a choice. The first option is to retrieve the device and bring it back safely to the President. His reward? A full pardon for all of his crimes. And if he doesn’t comply? “Oh yeah Snake, by the way, we injected you with a deadly Plutoxin 7 designer virus. Guaranteed 100% death. If you want the antidote, we think you’ll do what we say.”

Who wouldn’t comply?

Like always though, Snake’s not going in empty handed.

Cue the Suit Up Scene Checklist:

Core Burner with 500 extra rounds of Magnesium Ammo? Check.

Oral Projectile (Mouth Dart) filled with Urolyde Compound? Check.

Prototype Holocam with a 100% A/V Half Mile Radius? Check.

Plain, old-fashioned stick matches? Uh…check?

Snake's guns? Check!

Fire Retardant Stealth Clothing? We’ll take the jacket.

Carpenter had the opportunity back in 1981 for an awesome suit up scene. Hell, he had practically the same scene and setup, but he didn’t take the chance.

Luckily for us, Hollywood loves its sequels.