The Running Man
Added 1/14/2010
Set in a totalitarian society. Ben Richards is a cop who was blamed for a massacre which wasn't his fault. He would be sent to prison and breaks out with some other inmates. He tries to escape but the woman whom he dragged into his plan turns him over to the authorities. Damon Killian, who is the host of THE RUNNING MAN a game show wherein convicted felons are given the chance to run to freedom but have to elude the stalkers; men who hunt them down and kill them in gruesome manners. Of all Arnold's mid-'80s movies who would have thought that most relevant today would be The Running Man. A chilling and surprisingly realistic tale of reality TV gone mad. It may have been far-fetched back then but not so now. Not when you think about it. Watch this movie and see for yourself.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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This movie was horrible. There was no comparison to the book. I had read other reviews and I regret buying this DVD. It was a waste of time.
0 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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As granny says: "That boy's one mean mutherfu@#%r."
Added 12/6/2009
For now I'll just briefly mention that Richard Bachman's novella was tons better than this flick (Bachman being, of course, a pseudonym for Stephen King). Having said that, the loosely-based film adaptation of THE RUNNING MAN is still a fast and furious futuristic thriller and, I think, worth checking out. Its premise turns out to be a timely one as well, what with the plague of reality shows currently on television. Arnold Schwarzenegger does what he does best, which is play the invincible, stone-faced warrior with a knack for black humored one-liners.
THE RUNNING MAN takes a page from THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME and plonks its story sometime in a near and dystopian future. In this world, freedom is an illusion spoon-fed to the public by a corrupt, totalitarian regime. The masses are made docile not only by egregious government propaganda and fabricated news but also by the proliferation of reality game shows on television. And no programming is more violent or higher rated than the Running Man (although "Climbing for Dollars" is probably close). In this show, convicted criminals and enemies of the state are given a head start before being pursued and executed by the game's most sadistic (and popular) "stalkers." Very few felons have survived the Running Man game, and those who have are often referred to as now basking somewhere under the Maui sun, free and with their transgressions forgiven. Do you buy that?
Something you don't see too often is Arnie sporting a beard. He flaunts one here, playing Benjamin A. Richards, a notorious former cop known as the Butcher of Bakersfield for cold-bloodedly slaughtering sixty unarmed civilians. On the lam, Richards is captured and forced to compete in the Running Man, and the audience gleefully oohs and aahs and boos and hisses as his murderous "credentials" are touted by the game show's host Damon Killian. It's a bit obvious, this bit of social commentary which condemns our addiction for media entertainment, but the impact is undeniable. At first the studio crowd cheers on as various members from the audience are brought up to chat with Killian and win a prize or two and, oh by the way, also determine which stalker would be sent out to chase Richards.
The tide turns when Richards persists in surviving, keeps on killing the killers and doing it with a heavily-accented post-kill quip or two. However, for my money, the film's best, funniest, and most quotable line goes to one determined granny who, when Killian asks her to guess which stalker would make the next kill, instead picks Richards. "That boy's one mean mutherf*@#$%," she says. Heh.
The film unveils a who's who of vaguely familiar faces. THE RUNNING MAN came out in 1987, when Richard Dawson was still relevant. The kissy kissy host of Family Feud, Dawson is at his creepiest and smarmiest as Damon Killian, weasely host of the Running Man. And, really, every time I see this flick I still get that bump of contentment when he finally gets what's coming to him. Maria Conchita Alonzo turns up as fiery Amber Mendez, a composer of network jingles. She's cute and looks good in her yellow game show tights, but her griping carrying on eventually does get vexing. Several of the stalkers are recognizable. Legendary running back Jim Brown (Fireball) and ex-wrestler Professor Toru Tanaka (Prof. Subzero) play two of the stalkers and eventual victims of Richards and his zingers. Jesse "the Body" Ventura is the retired Captain Freedom, who was once the greatest stalker to play the game, and just check out the wig he's styling in. A bit disappointing is that these stalkers come off like assorted odds and ends pulled from the MAD MAX set and that each bruiser comes with a pretty hokey motif (Buzzsaw wields a chain saw, Subzero shoots out deadly hockey pucks, etc.).
Heck, Mick Fleetwood even shows up, playing the head of the underground resistance.
Not too surprisingly, the future tech looks a bit behind the times and not as sleek as what we see onscreen nowadays. The special effects have lost lots of luster. And Schwarzenegger gets saddled with the most ridiculous, most unhip sets of wardrobe, but at least he rolls with it. During the wearing of a particularly loud Hawaiian outfit, when Richards' reluctant companion, Amber Mendez, threatens to vomit on him, Richards responds with: "Go ahead. Won't show on this shirt."
Arnold Schwarzenegger is really into his element here, but guy knows his limits and has always been savvy about his film career. He seems at home in most of his movies. There's rarely any depth to his characters, and that applies in THE RUNNING MAN. But the elements of fun, humor, and whomping action which we've come to expect from Arnie, they're all here, even if this movie now feels dated. The plot uncoils at a whiplike pace; the fighty fights are classic Arnie, mostly brute strength and an occasional hail of bullets or two. About to be chuted down to the game arena, Schwarzenegger glares at Dawson and works in his trademark "I'll be back." To which Dawson replies: "Only in reruns." But in the world of reruns THE RUNNING MAN is a cult classic and an ahead-of-its-time satire. Maybe it's not as important a movie as Network (Two-Disc Special Edition) or even The Truman Show (Special Collector's Edition), but, you know what, those pictures didn't have a foul-mouthed grandma to make my day. THE RUNNING MAN, worth 3.5 out of 5 stars, in my book.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Yes!! Running Man on BLU!
Added 12/5/2009
One of arnie's best movies ever.. A must have for 80's babies!
Ben Richards: Killian, here's your Subzero, now plain zero. !!
3 out of 24 people found this helpful.
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It hits the spot
Added 11/12/2009
The Running Man (1987) is my favorite Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Based on the novel by Stephen King, it is an action-packed futuristic thriller with suspense, drama, humor, and horror. Combine these elements and you've got a movie that holds your attention. In the year 2019 the world economy has collapsed and television is ruling the lives of the American people. A top-rated game show called The Running Man rules the airwaves with its host Damon Killian (Richard Dawson from Family Feud). The show lets convicts have a shot at receiving pardons for their crimes if they can defeat the "stalkers" of the game show who are out to kill them. These stalkers are heavily armed with unique novelty weapons. The stalkers are Subzero with his sharp hockey sticks and exploding pucks; Buzzsaw with his heavy duty chainsaw and motorcycle; Dynamo with his dose of lightning bolt electricity; and Fireball (Jim Brown) with his flame throwing gun.
Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has been wrongly convicted of what is known as The Bakersfield (California) Massacre. He didn't shoot anybody. He was framed. He goes to prison and escapes with the help of some fellow inmates. Richards gets tangled up with a young woman named Amber (Maria Conchita Alonso) soon afterward, and the two are at an airport supposedly going on a vacation. Richards is accused of kidnapping her and he is captured a short time later. It is then that he is offered the opportunity to receive a full pardon through The Running Man game show - if he can defeat Killian's stalkers on live TV. Richards' two prison buddies are put on the game show to get chances at pardons. Even Amber is put on the show (after the show made up lies about her to justify her appearance on the show). Can these four contestants escape and defeat Killian's stalkers?
Richards and his fellow contestants meander through the game zone, which is among the ruins of a 1997 earthquake in Los Angeles. Richards takes on the stalkers and stuns the TV audience with his skills and prowess and kills three of the four. The other one he let go because, as he put it, he was "a helpless human being." Soon the audience starts rooting for and betting on Richards instead of the stalkers. Things get so humiliating for Killian that a retired stalker-turned-announcer, Captain Freedom (Jesse Ventura) is forced to come out of retirement to fight Ben Richards and Amber. Captain Freedom doesn't want to come out of retirement, so they rig a computerized fake video that shows him killing Richards and Amber, even though both of them are alive and actually watching this fake "live" coverage on TV. The ending of the movie has Richards giving Killian a taste of his own medicine, sending him on the same long ride into the game zone that he himself took at the top of the show. That's the irony.
Other people that appear in this movie are Mick Fleetwood and Dweezil Zappa.
If you want to see a really good action movie, then see this movie. It is one of Schwarzenegger's best performances. Highly recommended.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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The Running Man
Added 1/14/2010
Set in a totalitarian society. Ben Richards is a cop who was blamed for a massacre which wasn't his fault. He would be sent to prison and breaks out with some other inmates. He tries to escape but the woman whom he dragged into his plan turns him over to the authorities. Damon Killian, who is the host of THE RUNNING MAN a game show wherein convicted felons are given the chance to run to freedom but have to elude the stalkers; men who hunt them down and kill them in gruesome manners. Of all Arnold's mid-'80s movies who would have thought that most relevant today would be The Running Man. A chilling and surprisingly realistic tale of reality TV gone mad. It may have been far-fetched back then but not so now. Not when you think about it. Watch this movie and see for yourself.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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This movie was horrible. There was no comparison to the book. I had read other reviews and I regret buying this DVD. It was a waste of time.
0 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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As granny says: "That boy's one mean mutherfu@#%r."
Added 12/6/2009
For now I'll just briefly mention that Richard Bachman's novella was tons better than this flick (Bachman being, of course, a pseudonym for Stephen King). Having said that, the loosely-based film adaptation of THE RUNNING MAN is still a fast and furious futuristic thriller and, I think, worth checking out. Its premise turns out to be a timely one as well, what with the plague of reality shows currently on television. Arnold Schwarzenegger does what he does best, which is play the invincible, stone-faced warrior with a knack for black humored one-liners.
THE RUNNING MAN takes a page from THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME and plonks its story sometime in a near and dystopian future. In this world, freedom is an illusion spoon-fed to the public by a corrupt, totalitarian regime. The masses are made docile not only by egregious government propaganda and fabricated news but also by the proliferation of reality game shows on television. And no programming is more violent or higher rated than the Running Man (although "Climbing for Dollars" is probably close). In this show, convicted criminals and enemies of the state are given a head start before being pursued and executed by the game's most sadistic (and popular) "stalkers." Very few felons have survived the Running Man game, and those who have are often referred to as now basking somewhere under the Maui sun, free and with their transgressions forgiven. Do you buy that?
Something you don't see too often is Arnie sporting a beard. He flaunts one here, playing Benjamin A. Richards, a notorious former cop known as the Butcher of Bakersfield for cold-bloodedly slaughtering sixty unarmed civilians. On the lam, Richards is captured and forced to compete in the Running Man, and the audience gleefully oohs and aahs and boos and hisses as his murderous "credentials" are touted by the game show's host Damon Killian. It's a bit obvious, this bit of social commentary which condemns our addiction for media entertainment, but the impact is undeniable. At first the studio crowd cheers on as various members from the audience are brought up to chat with Killian and win a prize or two and, oh by the way, also determine which stalker would be sent out to chase Richards.
The tide turns when Richards persists in surviving, keeps on killing the killers and doing it with a heavily-accented post-kill quip or two. However, for my money, the film's best, funniest, and most quotable line goes to one determined granny who, when Killian asks her to guess which stalker would make the next kill, instead picks Richards. "That boy's one mean mutherf*@#$%," she says. Heh.
The film unveils a who's who of vaguely familiar faces. THE RUNNING MAN came out in 1987, when Richard Dawson was still relevant. The kissy kissy host of Family Feud, Dawson is at his creepiest and smarmiest as Damon Killian, weasely host of the Running Man. And, really, every time I see this flick I still get that bump of contentment when he finally gets what's coming to him. Maria Conchita Alonzo turns up as fiery Amber Mendez, a composer of network jingles. She's cute and looks good in her yellow game show tights, but her griping carrying on eventually does get vexing. Several of the stalkers are recognizable. Legendary running back Jim Brown (Fireball) and ex-wrestler Professor Toru Tanaka (Prof. Subzero) play two of the stalkers and eventual victims of Richards and his zingers. Jesse "the Body" Ventura is the retired Captain Freedom, who was once the greatest stalker to play the game, and just check out the wig he's styling in. A bit disappointing is that these stalkers come off like assorted odds and ends pulled from the MAD MAX set and that each bruiser comes with a pretty hokey motif (Buzzsaw wields a chain saw, Subzero shoots out deadly hockey pucks, etc.).
Heck, Mick Fleetwood even shows up, playing the head of the underground resistance.
Not too surprisingly, the future tech looks a bit behind the times and not as sleek as what we see onscreen nowadays. The special effects have lost lots of luster. And Schwarzenegger gets saddled with the most ridiculous, most unhip sets of wardrobe, but at least he rolls with it. During the wearing of a particularly loud Hawaiian outfit, when Richards' reluctant companion, Amber Mendez, threatens to vomit on him, Richards responds with: "Go ahead. Won't show on this shirt."
Arnold Schwarzenegger is really into his element here, but guy knows his limits and has always been savvy about his film career. He seems at home in most of his movies. There's rarely any depth to his characters, and that applies in THE RUNNING MAN. But the elements of fun, humor, and whomping action which we've come to expect from Arnie, they're all here, even if this movie now feels dated. The plot uncoils at a whiplike pace; the fighty fights are classic Arnie, mostly brute strength and an occasional hail of bullets or two. About to be chuted down to the game arena, Schwarzenegger glares at Dawson and works in his trademark "I'll be back." To which Dawson replies: "Only in reruns." But in the world of reruns THE RUNNING MAN is a cult classic and an ahead-of-its-time satire. Maybe it's not as important a movie as Network (Two-Disc Special Edition) or even The Truman Show (Special Collector's Edition), but, you know what, those pictures didn't have a foul-mouthed grandma to make my day. THE RUNNING MAN, worth 3.5 out of 5 stars, in my book.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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