Films, games, films and games! That's what I seem to know best...
Films, games, films and games! That's what I seem to know best...
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THE RUNNING MAN
Stephen King, you could presume, has a certain degree of foresight. Whilst not exactly identical to his novel The Running Man (written under his pseudonym Richard Bachman and published in 1982), the likes of Big Brother, Shipwrecked and any other hopeless reality television programme you care to mention certainly conforms to his future society where the masses lap up reality game shows. Yet the game shows in King's world are often deadly to the contestants despite the big money prizes on offer, making it all the more intriguing for the bloodthirsty audiences of the future to enjoy. Imagine being treated to the likes of watching some nobody looking for their 15 minutes of fame "Climbing for Dollars", before they slip and fall into a pit of wild dogs and are torn to shreds by Mutley and Co. for being an utterly miserable failure. Joy! Alas, the pillars of society haven't crumbled enough to allow for such a tele-visual treat to pass, so in the meantime we'll just have to stick with watching the 1987 film adaptation starring Arnold Schwarznegger running around in a yellow leotard instead!
Wrongly convicted for a massacre of food rioters in Bakersfield and following his recapture after an audacious prison escape, Ben Richards (Arnie) is spotted by egomaniac game show host Damon Killian (Richard Dawson) as a talent for the countries leading ratings winner - The Running Man. Placed in a self-contained environment divided into sectors, the contestants - usually criminals offered the chance of a reprieve if they manage to survive - are hunted through
the playing arena by 'stalkers' charged to dispose of the contestants in uber-violent ways conducive to promoting the watching audiences satisfaction. Forced to participate in the public execution show against his will and finding that not everything is as it seems to the public's perception, Ben has to survive the 'stalkers' hunting him down and the programme's other deceptions in order to escape with his life intact.
The Running Man is your typical sci-fi popcorn claptrap that the eighties and early nineties were highly effective at churning out (see anything starring Rutger Hauer). Whilst it features the essence of King's original parody of the media and public perception, it's a theme that's handled about as deftly as a quick kick to the bollocks. Instead, it seems like someone threw a bomb at the script and gave the detonator to a monkey, resulting in little more than simplistic action thriller bobbins being pieced together from the resulting destruction. If you were expecting some cerebral sci-fi concepts to take precedence based on the source novel, you'll be bitterly disappointed when you find the film is actually quite slim, filled with Arnie's cheesy one-liners, some terrible eighties production values and various degrees of hyper-violence ranging from exploding heads to the splicing of some ones innards with a chainsaw.
But that's really where the joy of The Running Man lies. Everyone knows what to expect in an action-flick from the world's most famous Austrian, and this is pretty much a vehicle for Arnie with all semblance of King's intelligent framing removed. Catchphrases such as "I'll be back" ("only in a re-run", retorts Killian) delivered in monochrome fashion, Sven Ole-Thorsen, an unlikely female companion (Maria Conchita Alonso), hilarious Hawaiian shirts, some latent homo-erotic machismo (just look at the tight leotards) and Arnie kicking arse against an assortment of big-guys is all present and correct. Indeed, the range of inventive stalkers on show gives The Running Man a distinct edge. From the ice-hockey stick wielding Sub-Zero, to the chainsaw wielding Buzzsaw, to Jesse Ventura's fantastic hairpiece as Captain Freedom; it makes for some enthralling computer game styled encounters which often end in grizzly fashion followed by a timeless Arnie one-liner. Barbed wire neck-breakage ("what a pain in the neck") and impalement on spikes are the order of the day here and the action is plentiful, frantic and fun throughout. After all, this is what Arnie does best!
If the stalkers are despicably violent then Richard Dawson seems to be having a great time being just plain old despicable. Spoofing his game show host background slightly, his smarmy studio audience revelling is a delight. The 'Come On Down' aspect as audience members guess which stalker is going to make the next kill, whilst Killian hands out Running Man board games as prizes, is the perfect antithesis to Arnie's begotten hero getting his arse whooped in the desolate game zone. It's an excellent contrast and Dawson makes for one of Arnie's most memorable villains - especially as he seemingly out-quips the muscle-bound behemoth throughout.
Alas, while this is all well and good, compared to the likes of Predator, The Terminator and Total Recall (Arnie flicks where the action didn't thoroughly overwhelm the sci-fi concepts) there's certainly that little hint of real quality missing from The Running Man. Perhaps it's due to the incredibly dated look. For a film attempting to predict the future, it becomes simply far too humorous to take a future so stuck in the eighties seriously. Perhaps it's the fault of director Paul Michael Glaser; Starsky is certainly no Cameron, McTierrnan or bonkers mad Verhoeven when it comes to giving a little bit of substance to the much maligned Arnie style. Whilst a final monologue from Killian regarding the viewing habits of Americans just about touches on some interesting thematic ideas, it's simply too little too late. Perhaps when all is said and done, despite the hyper-violence, despite the gore-laden deaths and despite Arnie quipping his way through the film, it's all just a little too bland and samey to be anything more than a bog-standard action flick.
Still, saying that, you're not going to see an operatic tenor with electrodes up his arse anywhere else. Or, for that matter, Mick Fleetwood leading a rebellion of freedom fighters against the tyranny of the television shows broadcaster - which is like totally bizarre! It's not an instant Arnie classic, but in moments like this, sitting alongside Ventura's comedy hairpiece and Arnie's genuine likeability, it still makes for a rather enjoyable couple of hours. And it's infinitely more entertaining than watching a bunch of deranged drongos on E4 do nothing more than bully each other pathetically of an evening! It can only be a matter of time until "Climbing for Dollars" becomes a reality for these idiots...
Overall - Although certainly showing its age The Running Man does what Arnie does best. Subtle this is not and ultimately fairly one-dimensional, but that's half the fun!
Arnold Schwarzenegger ... Ben Richards Maria Conchita Alonso ... Amber Mendez Yaphet Kotto ... William Laughlin Jim Brown ... Fireball Jesse Ventura ... Captain Freedom Erland van Lidth ... Dynamo (as Erland Van Lidth) Marvin J. McIntyre ... Harold Weiss Gus Rethwisch ... Buzzsaw (as Bernard Gus Rethwisch) Professor Toru Tanaka ... Subzero Mick Fleetwood ... Mic Dweezil Zappa ... Stevie Richard Dawson ... Damon Killian Karen Leigh Hopkins ... Brenda
Rating: 18 (Language, violence and some nasty, but well conceived, death scenes. No nudity though, which is disappointing!!)
Production Year: 1979 - Science Fiction - Director: Ridley Scott - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto, Veronica Cartwright
Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Very accurate review of this one-liner goldmine. I loved this as a kid, but I'm not so sure I would be able to sit through it now. Utterly camp action film!
KarenUK 29.05.2009 10:59
Don't think I've seen this yet.
CezaWeza 19.05.2009 13:49
I enjoyed the book so likely will enjoy the film. Great review.
In this action thriller based on an early story by Stephen King, Los Angeles in the year ... more
2017 has become a police state in the wake of the global economy's total collapse. All forms of entertainment are government controlled, and the most popular show ...
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![The Running Man [1987] [DVD] [1988]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/96931123.jpg "The Running Man [1987] [DVD] [1988]")
Apr 30th, 2009
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