Preview: The ultimate reality show where the prize is staying alive!
In a cinematic landscape increasingly dominated by mindless explosions and muscle-bound spectacles, TriStar Pictures is set to unleash its latest high-concept action vehicle, The Running Man, into theaters this weekend. Set in a bleak, totalitarian future where the American government controls the populace through television propaganda, the film follows a framed helicopter pilot who is forced to compete for his life on a deadly, top-rated game show.
Directed by Paul Michael Glaser, best known for his work behind and in front of the small screen, the production promises a mix of high-stakes gladiatorial combat and biting social satire. Audiences looking for a deeply intellectual exploration of dystopian politics may want to temper their expectations, as the film leans heavily on the physical charisma of its leading man and a rogues’ gallery of cartoonish villains. Whether this futuristic thriller hits the mark or collapses under the weight of its own campy premise remains to be seen.
Review by Ben Dover
I am sitting here on my sofa, staring at my television screen, wondering what in the world happened to the movies. I found this thing called The Running Man from 1987 buried deep in my streaming menu, and let me tell you, it is a special kind of loud, colorful nonsense. They tell us this takes place in the distant future of 2017, which is hilarious to me because 2017 came and went, and I do not remember the government forcing us to wear bright yellow spandex suits and sprint away from ice-skating lunatics.
The story features Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a fellow named Ben Richards. Now, the plot says he is an innocent cop framed for shooting a bunch of rioters, but let us be honest, nobody is watching this for the deep legal drama. Arnold spends the entire movie running through what looks like a condemned scrap yard while a bunch of grown men with silly code names try to murder him. The whole thing is supposed to be a TV show inside a movie, and the studio audience on the screen is screaming like they are at a tent revival.
The villains are the most ridiculous part of the entire circus. You have got a guy who rides around on a motorcycle with a chainsaw, an obese opera singer who shoots electricity out of his fingers, and a retired football player who uses a flamethrower. I am sixty years old, and I have seen some strange things in my life, but watching a massive Austrian fellow slice a biker in half with his own chainsaw while making a terrible pun is just plain goofy. The movie tries to be smart by saying television is rotting our brains, which is pretty rich coming from a movie that actively rots your brain while you watch it.
Still, I have to admit, I did not turn the thing off. It has a strange kind of energy that keeps you glued to the cushions. Richard Dawson steals the entire show as the slimy TV host, mostly because he is basically just playing his old Family Feud persona if he had the power to execute people. It is trashy, it makes absolutely no sense, and the young people in it dress like they got lost in a neon paint factory, but it is a hell of a lot more entertaining than the boring stuff they put out nowadays.
Star Power
The movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Ben Richards, and he does exactly what Arnold always does, he flexes his biceps and mumbles lines through a thick accent that makes you wonder how he ever got past security at the studio. Standing opposite him is Richard Dawson as the villainous host Damon Killian, who is easily the best part of the whole mess. We also get Maria Conchita Alonso as the lady who tags along for no good reason, Yaphet Kotto looking entirely too dignified for this script, and Jesse Ventura as a retired gladiator named Captain Freedom who spends his time flexing in front of a blue screen.
Special Effects
The effects in this movie are a real hoot. Everything looks like it was built out of cardboard and spray-painted silver. When the bad guy Dynamo shoots his little blue lightning bolts, it looks like a cheap arcade game from the bowling alley. The rocket sleds they use to shoot the contestants into the game zone look like something you would see at a carnival, and the fake blood looks like a bottle of Heinz ketchup exploded. It is cheap, but at least you can tell a human being actually built the sets instead of a computer.
Music
The music is a nonstop assault of synthesizers that sounds like a cat walking across an electric keyboard. It is loud, it is obnoxious, and it never stops pumping during the action scenes. Apparently, the theme song was cooked up by Harold Faltermeyer, the same guy who did Beverly Hills Cop, but he must have been having a bad week when he wrote this one. It feels very dated, like a workout tape from the local YMCA.
Rating
*** (Three out of Five Stars)
Complete Synopsis and Plot Breakdown
The movie opens in the far-off year of 2017. The world economy has gone down the toilet, and the United States is now a police state run by a military government. To keep the angry, hungry public from rioting, the government broadcasts a highly popular, ultra-violent game show called “The Running Man,” where convicted criminals run through a massive zone of ruins while being hunted by professional killers called Stalkers. If the runners survive, they supposedly get a full pardon and a free trip to Hawaii.
Our main guy, Captain Ben Richards, is a military helicopter pilot who gets ordered to shoot a crowd of unarmed civilians rioting for food in Bakersfield. Richards is a good guy, so he refuses and punches his superior officer. The other soldiers knock him out, do the shooting anyway, and then frame Richards for the whole massacre, turning him into a media monster known as the “Butcher of Bakersfield.” Richards gets sent to a brutal prison camp where he wears a collar that will blow his head off if he steps over the line. He manages to escape with two resistance fighters, Weiss and Laughlin.
Richards goes to his brother’s apartment in Los Angeles to hide out, but he finds out his brother has been taken away for “re-education.” The apartment is now occupied by Amber Mendez, a lady who writes music for the television network, ICS. Richards kidnaps her and forces her to help him get past airport security so he can flee the country. Amber gets away and yells for the cops, and Richards gets tackled and captured by the police.
Meanwhile, the slimy host of “The Running Man,” Damon Killian, is facing terrible television ratings and needs a big star for his next episode. He sees the news report on Richards and decides he is the perfect villain for the show. Killian forces Richards to compete by promising that his buddies Weiss and Laughlin will be spared if he complies. Of course, Killian is a liar, and as soon as Richards is strapped into a high-speed rocket sled and blasted into the game zone, he sees his two friends are being sent right down behind him.
Once inside the four hundred blocks of earthquake ruins, the runners are hunted by the first Stalker, a big fellow named Subzero who plays hockey and carries a lethal stick. Richards manages to wire him up with barbed wire and strangle him, which shocks the studio audience because a runner has never killed a Stalker before. Amber Mendez, back at the TV station, finds the unedited footage of the Bakersfield massacre and realizes Richards was framed. Before she can do anything, she gets caught and thrown into the game zone with the boys.
Next up are Buzzsaw, a guy who rides a motorcycle and wields a chainsaw, and Dynamo, a heavy opera singer in a suit covered in lightbulbs who shoots electricity. Buzzsaw fatally wounds Laughlin, but Richards manages to catch the chainsaw and slice Buzzsaw right down the middle. Weiss manages to find the government’s satellite uplink codes in the zone so they can broadcast the truth, but Dynamo shoots and kills him. Richards disables Dynamo’s car and gets the drop on him, but he refuses to kill him while he is helpless, which makes the TV audience start cheering for Richards instead of the killers.
Killian tries to get the legendary Captain Freedom to go into the zone, but Freedom refuses because the show has become a rigged joke. So, Killian uses computers to fake a video showing Captain Freedom killing Richards and Amber. Out in the ruins, Richards and Amber meet up with the underground resistance, led by a guy named Mic. Using the codes Weiss got before he died, the resistance takes over the network broadcast. They show the real footage of the Bakersfield massacre, proving Richards is innocent, and they show that the past winners of the show were actually murdered and left to rot.
Richards and the resistance storm the television studio. A massive brawl breaks out, and Richards corners Killian in the control room. He straps the slimy host into one of the rocket sleds and launches him into the game zone without a net. The sled crashes into a billboard of Killian’s own face and explodes, killing him. Richards gives the crowd a wave, kisses Amber, and walks out of the studio while the television network goes completely dark.
Famous Quotes
- “Killian! I’ll be back.” / “Only in a rerun.”
- “Hey, Killian! Here is Subzero! Now, Plain Zero!”
- “He had to split.”
- “What a hothead.”
- “I am not going to hurt you. I am going to use you as a shield.”
Interesting Facts
- The movie is actually based on a short novel written by Stephen King, though he published it under the fake name Richard Bachman because he was putting out books faster than his publisher could print them.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger was not the first choice to play Ben Richards, the studio originally wanted Christopher Reeve, the fellow who played Superman, but the script changed completely when Arnold took the job.
- The director of the film, Paul Michael Glaser, was actually the guy who played Detective David Starsky on the old 1970s television show Starsky and Hutch.
- Richard Dawson was a real-life game show host for years on Family Feud, which is why he was so good at acting like a fake, smiling hypocrite in front of the cameras.
- This movie marked the only time in cinematic history that two future United States governors appeared together as actors, with Arnold Schwarzenegger later becoming Governor of California and Jesse Ventura becoming Governor of Minnesota.
Photos
Trailer
Review Notes
This movie is a lot hornier than I remember…. That he could rape you and kill you bit was a little much where the two girls are back and forthing.
Killian I’ll Be Back… really? gonna steal that line straight up.