Review of The Running Man (1987) by Dann M — 19 May 2012

This is "The Hunger Games", starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and co-starring all the sophistication the 80s can muster - which is to say, none. It's shlocky and cheesy, but represents the guilty pleasure of 80s sci-fi action flicks at its "best".

This is Schwarzenegger at the height of his steroid-pumped, one-liner-spouting best, accompanied by loud and kitschy action sequences. This is also probably the only time a Paula Abdul-choreographed dance sequence will find its way into an action movie.

Richard Dawson is deliciously venomous as the crowd-favourite host of the Running Man TV show, which is good casting as he was hosting Family Feud at the time. The satire is pretty soft because the movie is meant to be dumbed-down, mass-appeal fare, and the relevance to today's reality TV-addicted culture is lost a little because of how dated everything looks.

But there's no denying it's plenty fun, and there's the added appeal of seeing Arnold and Jesse Ventura, both destined to be elected governors, going at it - Ventura armed with a chainsaw to boot.

"I'm not into politics, I'm into survival!" Yeah right, Governator.