Review of The Running Man (1987) by Baurushan J — 04 Jan 2013

Based on a short story by the legendary Stephen King and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, here comes The Running Man. In 2019, the story is about Ben Richards who is an innocent cop. He is framed for killing innocent women and children and ten months later, he is working in a prison but he breaks out and escapes.

A host named Killian who presents a show called The Running Man where gadget-wielding professional killers are hunting criminals for entertainment. Ben is dragged onto the show by Killian with no proof that he is innocent along with his two friends, Laughlin and Weiss who are both killed by the skilled maniacs whilst a girl named Amber is sent into the battle with Ben who framed him into The Running Man game show.

Both Ben and Amber fight back to the studio and get their payback on Killian who still loves doing his job watching criminals die and being a cheat. I guess for the audience, it wasn't anything special, but for me, it was good.

It got some good reviews, mostly good. While it wasn't a faithful adaptation it still managed to be fun. I did think that the ending in the book was lame and I'm glad they changed that and I'm glad that Arnold took the opportunity of starring in a Stephen King adaptation although Arnold said that the director shot this film like a TV show losing all it's deeper themes.

The Running Man gets a weak 10/10.