The Running Man (1987)
The year is 2019. The finest men in America don't run for President. They run for their lives.
In another case of the yearly motto memory lapse, we got another movie to go with tonight that I would have sworn I had done already. Maybe I did, back in the days before actually logged things down with “reviews” to try and make it feel like a better use of my time. Heck, it’s even to the point where I start calling them reviews instead of opinions, just to make it more simple, you know? Over 500 movies logged, with over 700 weekly trips to the “Kenima” - that’s a long time running. Tonight’s Arnold movie? Well, that’s not time running - that’s The Running Man.
This is based on a book that I’ve never read - which shouldn’t much be a surprise to anyone in all honesty. The movie itself is some good stuff, fitting of it’s time but also a bit timeless in many regards. Our story follows our hero as he gets framed for committing a massacre after he refused to do the said thing at behest of the government orders. He makes some friends in the old labor camp, and they spring a big old jail break. His dreams for a hope of a second life start going almost immediately wrong however, when he runs into a lady whose not as prone to playing the good mannered kidnapped role with the man who murdered a ton of innocents. This nets our hero a role on the number one television show that shares a name with the movie - where he has to try and survive against a bunch of brutal gladiator fighters to earn his survival - but it’s not just him, as his jail break buddies got caught and thrown in as well. A now suspicious but free kidnap victim also decides to look into some discrepancies between her escape and what the news has broadcast - which nets her a fine spot as the next contestant in The Running Man. Who will survive?
The actors here do a pretty good job. Although it’s not exactly something that will probably convince people that everyone deserves awards or anything like that, they are largely doing a good job with their roles and the scenes they are in, and the chemistry between characters feels pretty clear to how is intended. Some folks, particularly the stalkers - the “bad guys” of the movie - really ham it up and over blow things, much like you would expect of sports and television personalities like wrestlers where it’s go big or go home. It adds an air of cheese to things - well, that and Arnold’s one liners - that both feels a little bit satirical at times while also both being fun and somehow fitting. It works really well for me when watching, but at the same time i could see where some would be less impressed than me because I’m not exactly hard to make happy. Most actors will have high and low moments during the run time, where it feels like they nail it or could have done maybe a bit better - so it’s a pretty good mix.
The characters are there. Most the stalkers are just their role, it’s not really any sort of “this is their history” or long character-fueled motivations as to why they would ever volunteer to be in a dangerous role with such huge fame and contractual money options. I’d also say, it’s really not needed in the slightest. The main character doesn’t really change during the movie, nor does any of the characters outside of the female lead who starts kidnapped sheeple and ends all viva la resistance. Really though, I think that’s more a product of the movie being more about the story and commentary than specifically about any single characters journey. Yes, they are there and they all have personalities or a frame of a character so you can look at them as more than just the common prison guard fodder, but it doesn’t misuse its time fleshing them all out and giving them tons of layers because for the end point of it’s thematic journey, they could literally be anyone and it would still work.
A less happy “Dillon!” sort of shot.
As a whole, if you like Arnold movies you like Arnold movies. It’s a pretty easy sell to a person if they know the yes or no answer to “do you enjoy movies with Arnold in them?” Arnold movies, particularly the older ones all had a bit of a format of things to expect - big buff man lead, usually if not always a woman that people would label as a minority figure in the main female role (and most the time they weren’t helpless damsels in distress, even if they weren’t always the most impactful for the plot), one liners and some action. This has all those, which explains why if someone likes Arnold movies they’d like this - but this also has stuff for folks that aren’t just all about that. You do have that social commentary, probably I’m guessing derived from the source material it calls out being based on in the intro. Yes, all that Arnold stuff makes it fun - but that commentary about being lied to and controlled by media and those in charge, the side notes on television and sports presentations and the likes - that’s the stuff that makes the movie have more legs than normal, because even now things like “fake news” is still a hot topic - which is funny to think we have so many movies throwing this sort of thing at us on a subconscious or blatant in-your-face way that it’s still such a problem. I guess like most the audience in the movie, we are quick to forget or not care as long as we are entertained.
Costumes get to have some fun, being a sort of alternate vision of the future. Yes, we still have a lot of plain things that look just like any other clothes of the time, but then you get the guard outfits, you get all this post-apocalyptic looking stuff in the competition zones, and you get the gamut of outfits from the stalkers. The cozy yet sleek looking contestant outfits aside, it’s the Stalkers who end up stealing the show for costumes, with everything from chainmail and flamethrowers to retro LED lights and lightning bolts. It keeps each stalker easily identifiable - which let’s be honest, is exactly what you would want from a sports show that you plan on marketing the crap out of with toys and tie in products. We also get a lot of real posh looking folks, but also that very retro look that we associate with the 80s when it comes to the jazzercise outfits of the, I guess you’d call them cheerleaders?
The audio is well balanced. You won’t have any problems hearing and understanding lines. The one liners can be good fun, although some could have been better. The music is fun, but it’s not really going to stay around after the fact for me. That said, it did have a couple of times when it sounded quite Carpenter-like, which I did enjoy. The movie as a whole is put together good. It’s not super cut heavy and it’s got some fun usage of colors and lighting in the game zone. Violence is all over, but it’s not overly graphic violence - inferred violence is sometimes maximum That being said - it is rated R for a reason. Of course, there’s the thinking person stuff in there too if you the kind that likes to process things like commentary mentioned before.
In soviet game land, puck is you!
I enjoy this movie. Why, I would hope i did considering the number of times I’ve watched it. It might not be a masterpeice, but the thing hits all the boxes for me to be entertaining and engaging for it’s run time. Everybody is doing their part, and the end product is a nice little bit of story that still speaks pretty true. If you aren’t big into thinking, you can still have fun watching all the action and hearing all the liners. Folks who don’t like violence (or shouldn’t be watching it) probably won’t be as prone to full enjoyment, but it’s a fun little spin on action with a story backbone to give both sides of the seat something to enjoy.