Review of The Running Man (1987) by Tommy M — 09 Jun 2009

Just throw 'Rollerball' action into a 'Battle Royale' plot, put a familiar tough guy face on the cover, and you get 'The Running Man.'.

The atmosphere depicted in this film feels more like a video game brought to life as opposed to being an ideal vision of the future, but considering the year in which it was made, it deserves a great deal of credit for its risky structure. The fight scenes play out like a series of episodic duels between a bunch of tough guys in ridiculous outfits, and while Schwarzenegger makes the best of every scene, it's not too long before the action starts repeating itself.

There is a brief moment at the end when the bad guy spits out the definitive line giving the movie what little meaning it deserves, but this is ultimately just another 80s action movie that used the Terminator reputation of its leading star to try and cash in a big check.