The Running Man [Blu-ray]

 

 

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When I first saw this movie, I looked at it as, well, another 1980's action flick with Arnold Schwarzenegger literally devouring his enemies. It was entertaining, but it had something of a pro-wrestling mentality. It's a pretty good movie. It does recreate the look and feel of many of the WWF superstars, and it also includes former pro-wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura. It seemed to me that it was pure entertainment, as was pro-wrestling itself. However, something changed my mind. It was near the beginning of summer, when the news came that wrestler Owen Hart died of an accident at a wrestling event. His death shook me up, and it was hard for me to like wrestling anymore. After something like that, you realize that in some ways, "The Running Man" is true to life! It's about people fighting for their lives on a game show. The audience cheers for death and for blood. The more people are killed on the show, the higher the ratings go. Killian, the show's host, is a poke at WWF owner Vince McMahon, who, for the sake of ratings, has taken his wrestling federation farther than what anyone has ever seen before. Back then, it used to be Hulkamania, which was decent entertainment. Now, it's loaded with sex, violence, and blood.

What went wrong? I don't know but reviewer Main Man can tell you all about it due to his high knowledge of wrestling. It's been close to a decade since I seen wrestling and the last straw was when Owen Hart lost his life over a stunt to please the fans!

Aside from that, "The Running Man" actually tries to tell something important about the television entertainment we are having nowadays. If we take a quick look at some of the most daring and wretched ones of today's game shows we can note that even though they don't slaughter people yet they do almost everything else to keep the audience happy - no matter how immoral it might get. Here's a futuristic vision of a show called "The Running man". It still looks a pretty absurd and ridiculous from today's point of view but we're certainly heading to that direction. Slowly, perhaps, put that's the course.

This movie can be seen as what it also is: excellent action movie and alongside with "Conan the Barbarian - Collector's Edition", "The Terminator", "Commando (Director's Cut)" and "Predator (Widescreen Collector's Edition)" it's one of the greatest Schwarzenegger classics of the 80's. He celebrated his 40th birthday in 1987, everybody found him a believable man of action, people loved him and actually took him and even his amusing Austrian accent seriously. If I look at "The Running man" and compare it to Schwarzenegger's most recent films this one makes me very nostalgic. He's so soft nowadays. But then again, 80's are in the past. In "The Running man" we have lots of cruel and brilliant fights, exciting and funny chases, maniacal bad guys with interesting weapons and among many other good things Arnie's famous "I'll be back" -one liner. Yes sir, I like it.

It's hard to believe that, as goofy as The Running Man is, it came so close to predicting what society would be like in the future. We still have 7 years before we hit 2017, perhaps we are right on track for our 2017 to match this version!

The Running Man is loosely (and I mean, very very very loosely) based on the novella by Richard Bachman, otherwise known to his "dear readers" as Stephing King. Where the King book involved a desperate man who needs money to buy medicine, and a game where he can travel anywhere in the world, the movie scales things back. Ah-nold, at his one-liner best, is Ben Richards, a former pilot who disobeyed orders and refused to fire on an unarmed mob. He is imprisoned but escapes, and is now about to appear on The Running Man, a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week television show (hmmm, Big Brother?) and fight for his life. The prize is a full pardon for your crimes, a loss means death.

Society is now a police state (hmmm?) and the people are distracted by endless game shows on television (hmmm?). News is heavily censored and "edited for television" (hmmm?). Ben Richards' crime of disobeying orders has been spun by the networks -- they show a film of him firing on the unarmed crowd, and earning himself the nickname "The Butcher of Bakersfield". Now he will have the chance to win his freedom on The Running Man, but the odds are well stacked against him. By his side are two freedom fighters who are hoping to find the source of network transmissions so they can jam it, and broadcast the truth of what the world has become.

The Running Man is not a great film. It's an 80's Arnold film, but with the benefit of 20+ years of hindsight, it is incredibly eerie how some of these things are coming true. Draw your own conclusions. There's enough action for everybody, as Arnold must battle "Stalkers" on The Running Man. Much like the gladiators on American Gladiators, these stalkers will do everything they can to stop Arnold from winning. They include:

* Sub-Zero as played by Professor Toru Tanaka
* Fireball (Jim Brown)
* the opera-loving Dynamo who has a punk-looking suit that can fire electricity
* Buzzsaw, so named for his use of a chainsaw as a weapon
* the retired Captain Freedom (Arnold's friend Jesse Ventura)

The show is run by Damien Killian (subtle!), played by former Family Feud host Richard Dawson. Nobody could have played this role better than Dawson. While playing a game show host was not a stretch for him, Dawson was absolutely flawless in the role. Other famous names include Yaphet Kotto (Alien) as another Running Man contestant, Mick Fleetwood as former-musician-turned-freedom-fighter named Mic (I like to think Mick is just playing the future version of himself) and a very young Dweezil Zappa.

The blu-ray disc has enough bonus features to keep you going after the film has ended, including audio commentaries and featurettes. The audio is really nice, mastered in sweet, sweet 7.1 surround. When Arnold is in that little pod heading down to The Running Man's play area, the sound was awesome. If you have 7.1 at home you need to check this out. I really enjoyed the sound.

If you like other cheesey Schwartzennegger movies such as Total Recall or Last Action Hero, add The Running Man to your collection. If you like movies with a stirring plot and excellent acting, avoid at all costs. But regardless of your feelings on this film, do try to pick up the book. I have always felt that a remake of this film, following King's book, is well overdue.

3 stars. Enjoy.

In the Running Man,Arnold Schwarzenegger play a man framed and wrongly
convicted of a crime in the future.His sentence:being a contestant on a
brutal reality TV show where the inmates face overwhelming odds to stay
alive against their opponents,who are armed and also well protected
from head to toe.the game is basically rigged in favour of their
opponents.thus far no convict has ever made it out alive.but of course
Arnie is no ordinary inmate.this reality TV show makes what passes for
reality TV today look like Mister Rogers.anyway,the film is filled with
terrific action sequences,some wit courtesy of some classic Arnie one
liners.there are also some suspenseful moments,and some terrific death
scenes.the acting may not be stellar,but hey,it's Arnie,so who needs
good acting.overall,a very well paced,entertaining piece of work. 3.5/5

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3.0 out of 5 stars Run away from the Special Features
The Running Man is loosely based on the novella of the same name by Richard Bachman, aka Stephen King. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Jason Barrett

3.0 out of 5 stars brutal blu-ray compression
This film looks good on blu-ray, but contains probably the worst case of audio compression ever heard. Read more

Published 10 months ago by Cheryl

1.0 out of 5 stars IT SUCKS!
THIS MOVIE SUCKS! ITS JUST ABOUT A CONVICT WHO RUNS! EVERY ONE SAID YOU HAVE TO SEE IT IT'S AN ACTION CLASIC! BUT NO ITS HORIBLE! Read more

Published on Sep 2 2007 by thibs happy dude from canada

4.0 out of 5 stars When future governors collide
If there's another film out there featuring two future governors, I don't know what it could be. Ironically, both future politicians' characters actually reflect their future... Read more

Published on Aug 5 2007 by Daniel Jolley

3.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps more topical now
While in 1987 this may have been simply another action star for Governor-to-be Schwarzenegger, viewed today this film offers more layers of meaning. Read more

Published on July 4 2004 by Colin

1.0 out of 5 stars Read the book instead
I read the book by Stephen King and I loved it! This movie is NOTHING like the book. The basic plot (and I mean VERY basic) is the same, but the events that take place aren't... Read more

Published on Jun 25 2004 by Chemerfian

3.0 out of 5 stars Another great piece of 80s Arnie action megacheese!
Although I don't consider 'The Running Man' to be one of Arnie's best bits of action fare, it does have more than its fair share of those silly cheeseball moments that I ofttimes... Read more

Published on Jun 21 2004 by Zagnorch

3.0 out of 5 stars Arnie runs for his life
This overly predictable sci-fi/action yarn (based on a story by Stephen King which he wrote under the pen name Richard Bachman) stars good 'ol Arnie as a wrongfully accused man... Read more

Published on Jun 14 2004 by N. Durham

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth for the last 5 minutes itself !
Trashy looking and predictably fun Arnold vehicle based on a Stephen King novel (which he wrote under the name Richard Bachman) has Arnold as a cop turned into a scape goat for... Read more

Published on Jun 10 2004 by Jessy

3.0 out of 5 stars Underrated gem!
Let's make one thing clear-- this is not a brilliant piece of filmmaking. It is painfully dated in its look and feel, much of the acting is marginal (Arnie has improved a LOT... Read more

Published on Jun 6 2004

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