Review of The Running Man (1987) by Michael S — 13 Sep 2010

Oy!

Ok, so here is a strange little movie that really could have only been made in the 80's. It is way over the top, taking a huge action star, giving him a ton of one liners, bad guys trying to kill him, and letting him go. Arnold is that star, running his way from one challenge to another, all while trying to survive and "win" the game. It's madness.

Given that it is filled with the same great cheese that we would come to expect from Arnold in the 80's, this movie is a check your brain at the door and sit back and enjoy type film. What is interesting, though, without meaning to, it actually has sort of predicted a bit of the current state of television right now. It's scary to think that this movie, one that was totally made for the hell of it (at least I hope it was) could peg our need to watch people race or compete for a large prize, all while being distracted from the bigger more important news stories and current situations around us. Amazing.

So, what's good? Richard Dawson does his best Richard Dawson impersonation here, playing a game show host that is hell bend on making Arnold s life horrible. Yet, he brings a sort of class to the whole movie. When he's on screen, the movie takes a turn upwards. This movie also gives us a great view of a dystopian future, one in which the late 80's and early 90's fashion survived in droves. Amazing!

What's not so good? The dialog is really bad. Giving Arnold one liners is fun, but painful ("Here lies Subzero. Now, just Zero!"), but then when others are forced to do the same, it turns to something else, much more painful. Really, it's just not a good movie. Not even a little bit. But it's fun. So, it might be good for a drunk night action flick.