The Running Man
Watch it on Amazon.
Watch it on Prime.
Oh how I do love me some eighties
movies. Especially when they do something in the future and the
timeline has caught up to them. The Running Man is supposed to take
place in the years 2017 – 2019 which, honestly, may not be to far
off from being reality. However I do feel that this movie has aged
well although our technology has surpassed that displayed in the
film. But the media obsession of the populace is pretty much hitting
the nail on the head. At least we don't have folks running around
wearing bell bottoms like the do in 70's movies that were supposed to
take place post 2000.
This movie is pretty much pure
cyberpunk and for some reason that fact is over looked by a lot of
folks. Nearly all the tropes are there, dystopic future,
corporate/police state control, people fighting against that control,
government controlled media, all that. The only things it's missing
is cyberware and some form of netrunning (although we do have
hackers). Seriously this looks like it could all take place twenty
minutes into the future after Max Headroom.
The base plot is pretty straight
forward. Framed police officer Ben Richards (played by the Arnold)
escapes prison with some friends then is recaptures and thrown onto
the reality show 'The Running Man' where the contestants are hunted
down and killed on live television. Ben ends up helping some rebels
who are attempting to fight back against the police state while
trying to stay alive while 'stalkers' are hot on his tail.
Costumes and sets are well done and
come across well with some of the stalkers having their own
specialized hunting grounds that the contestants are corralled into.
The set for the show, corporate offices and everything else comes
across believable as well. Special effects are top notch for the time
period with most of being traditional and only a few things added in
like the lightening for one of the stalkers, some fireball effects
and showing the television crew doing face overlays. Even the cast is
great with Arnold Schwarzenegger as the lead doing the action star
thing, Richard Dawson as the host is straight up perfect casting,
Jesse Ventura and Jim Brown could have easily have been done wrong
but were, again, perfect castings. We even get Mic Fleetwood of
Fleetwood Mac in here and doing well.
Where it falls down is the writing,
okay to be honest mainly in the dialogue. There is way to much push
to give the Ben Richards character all kinds of one liners simply
because The Arnold is playing him. It really doesn't fit most of the
time and falls flat considering the way they rounded out the rest of
his character. It also doesn't help that most of those one liners are
meant to be funny and simply aren't. There are points where
exposition is needed but they front load it so hard that it seems
awkward how it comes out. The story is good, but they really needed
somebody to sharpen up what everybody is saying just a bit and toss
the one line wonders into the trash.
In the end I fill this movie should be
necessary watching for anyone wanting to run a cyberpunk game with
massive amounts of media control going on. Like Max Headroom there is
so much to peel off and use that it's a gold mine for ideas. From the
massive amounts of betting that is going on based on who is going to
die or get the first kill to the rebels trying to take over the
airwaves. Anybody who likes some good science fiction should also sit
down and give it a viewing as well. It's simply a good solid movie
that will keep you entertained.
"This ain't the Family Fued Ben!"
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