December 24, 2012

The Running Man (1987)

The Running Man is a film that being made in the 1980's hasnt aged very well. It takes the viewer to a world in 2017 where the economy has fallen on its arse (out by five years) and there is a grizzly gameshow where the contestants (mainly criminals) are put in to effectivley get killed. Arnie gets put in the show after being framed and labeled a butcher. What the film then dones is put Arnie in a position where he and his fellow contenstants have to basically survive but they are on a mission to try and tell the truth to the public.

The story is pretty good but the visuals havent really aged very well but the film is one of the better non-Terminator films thats not really saying much. It has a nice pace to it and there are some good performance in it.

Richard Dawson is brilliant as Damon Killian. Whenever the action moves to him I find myself more interested in the story. There is something about the way that he presents himself that makes the character so utterly unlikeable. Arnie is pretty standard in this though its always funny watching him because he is so utterly incapable of delivering lines in anything that is believeable. Thats why his most famous role is Terminator where he doesnt have to say a lot.

The Running Man is a film that could probably benefit from a remake but at the rate that their doing remakes, there is a good chance that twelve months from now there will no doubt be news on Den of Geek or somewhere saying the Jason Statham will be starring in it.

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