The Running Man
The Running Man (1987)
"Hello, cutie-pie. One of us is in deep trouble."
There's nothing really remarkable about this film, story-wise. It's pretty much a standard 80s action movie set in a dystopian future. The film opens with a nice little card explaining in a couple of paragraphs the state of the world in the not-so-distant future of 2019 (lol) ad then just throws us into the action. It's a pretty straightforward plot: the hero is framed, he escapes from prison, is recaptured and forced into a literal cat and mouse game to save his own skin, ends up toppling a corrupt regime in the process. Seriously, we've all been there dozens of times.
However, what grabbed me about this movie was how terrifying prescient it was with the world that it built as a backdrop. While as a society, we're not quite where the world in The Running Man is, there are some definite parallels with the way many people think in North America and around the globe. For example, the film establishes right off the top that the world economy has collapsed and the U.S has sealed its borders. You'd have to be living under a rock for the past 4 years not to have picked up something there. Another interesting tidbit is that all art is censored, and anything considered subversive is banned. Fortunately, we're not quite there yet, but that is a scenario I could definitely see happening at some point.
Additionally, the U.S. in the film has also collapsed and split into different cadres, who keep the populace in line using various bloody and violent reality TV programs, such as The Running Man. Let's face it, we're one lion attack on Survivor from this coming to pass. Finally, we also see how the government and TV studios will manipulate information to ensure that the public sees what it wants them to see. With the rise in deep-fake technology, this was also not lost on me.
I guess my whole point is that while the story itself isn't anything inspiring, the film still does what good science fiction can do. It delves into the dark heart of mankind and serves as a cautionary tale of what we might become, should we succumb to our baser instincts. Honestly, I was pretty taken aback at how much "stupid 80s action flick" could be so predictive of what the world is starting to become. I certainly wasn't expecting to be as freaked out as I was after viewing this film, but here we are...
Acting/Characters:
This is a Schwarzenegger film from the 80s, so we're not exactly dealing with award-winning acting. However, the big guy does what he does in all his movies; he looks cool and occasionally says some dialogue in between one-liners. One interesting addition to the cast was the great Yaphet Kotto, who likely had the best acting chops in the cast. Kotto is a terrific actor (we'll have more of him next month), but sadly, he isn't given much to do here as he plays second fiddle to Arnie. However, what he is given, he does well. He portrays Loughlin as a passionate defender of liberty and what the U.S. is supposed to represent. He's a freedom fighter, and he's the moral compass for the heroes. The film really could have used more of him.
The big surprise for me in the acting department, though, was the performance of Richard Dawson as the film's primary antagonist Damon Killian. In 1987, Dawson was known chiefly as the overly affectionate host of Family Feud and to see him as an amoral villain was quite a shock back in the day. He plays Killian as a man who is outwardly charming and urbane, but in private, is basically a sociopath who delights in causing torment to those he deems beneath him. The performance can go over-the-top sometimes, but, overall it really was a highlight of the film.
The rest of the cast is adequate, with appearances from Maria Conchita Alonso as the firey Latin love interest Amber Mendez; Marvin McIntyre as the tech-savvy convict Weiss; and Mick Fleetwood as...himself? The film also boasts a couple of sports superstars. Jesse Ventura appears as retired Stalker/turned sideline reporter, Captain Freedom, and Cleveland Brown great Jim Brown as the Stalker, Fireball. They both act as well as one might expect.
Visuals/Effects:
The film does an excellent job portraying a dystopian version of Los Angeles, particularly the ruins of the old city destroyed in a massive earthquake. The one thing amusing about the design of this film (and others from the same era) is we get to see what the future might look like based on fashion and design trends from the 80s. This is especially true considering the film was technically set two years ago. Although, I have to say that the prison guards in the movie's first act look a lot like the soldiers from Half-Life 2. I wonder if that's a coincidence?
From an effects standpoint, the film does the best it can with the technology available at the time. There's not much effects-work outside, lots of gunplay and explosions. There were some more complicated effects, such as the lightning bolt-shooting Stalker, Dynamo, which looks okay. There's also a pretty cool scene in which a bomb blows up a guy's head, which again looked okay.
Score/Soundtrack:
I came into this film expecting to see Michael Kamen's name on the soundtrack, and, of course, I was wrong. The music was composed by Harold Faltermyer, who is most well known for his work on Beverly Hills Cop and Top Gun. I wasn't overly impressed with the music and found that its overuse of synthesizers dated it quite a bit. Also, I'm struggling to even remember a single bar of music from the film. So, overall, it's just kinda...meh.
Action:
The action in The Running Man is choreographed pretty well and is quite varied in presentation. We're treated to a fistfight inside a flying helicopter, a daring prison break and a chase in a busy airport. Arnie's battles with the Stalkers are also interesting as he has to contend with a Japanese ice-skating Professor, a chainsaw-wielding lunatic, a lightning-spewing opera singer and a jetpack-wearing dude with a flamethrower. All in all, the action is solid. Not Arnie's best, but solid nonetheless.
Final Verdict:
This is one of those instances where my appreciation for a film has increased after watching it for review. While the action and story are all pretty standard, the world created by the film captivated and terrified me. Schwarzenegger fans should definitely check it out, as should fans of dystopian sci-fi.
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