Review of The Running Man (1987) by Robert H — 19 Apr 2014

Despite some rather dated elements and too conventional of an ending, THE RUNNING MAN is one of Arnold's best movies and a brilliantly subversive (and prescient) take on entertainment culture, "reality" TV and American obsession with celebrity.

The movie takes place in the future (2017) and the story is about this game show where contestants are convicts who try to outrun "stalkers" who are trying to kill them. All of it is broadcast live to the country where people bet on who will kill who and cheer on their favorites.

The dystopian future that the film creates is one that resonates particularly in the themes and ideas that is presents, even if the fashion sense and music give it a little too much of an 80's feel.

The performances from the cast are mostly good, with Richard Dawson being a standout as the show runner Damon Killian. His over-the-top performance made it seem like he understood the satire that the movie was going for.

Jesse Ventura also had a small, but memorable, role as a former stalker-turned-TV personality. Arnold was good as usual, and this movie has (in my opinion) some of his best lines. One in particular that I liked was a moment in the film where he manhandles a surveillance/TV camera and threatens to ram his fist into Killian.

Outside of the big lines he's known for, that one might actually be the best one. Overall, the movie does a really great job of establishing the world in it, but I felt that the movie was wrapped up in a cliche manner.

Instead of going for a more gonzo ending, they opted for a standard shoot-em-up finale where the hero walks away with the girl. While it doesn't detract too much from the overall product, it was a little disappointing given how strong the movie started out.

In addition to the satirical elements I mentioned before, I also gleaned that the movie may be implicating the audience as well, given that the audience in the film never really changes. They only change their allegiances as circumstances change rather than revolting against a clearly corrupt and deceptive system like the resistance in the film does.

They also could have fleshed out that part of the movie more as well. Still, THE RUNNING MAN is a must-watch film for Arnie fans, and fans of this type of satire.