The Running Man [Blu-Ray] [Import]

The Running Man is a film directed by Paul Michael Glaser, the original Dave Starsky from the '70s TV show Starsky & Hutch. The film was written by Richard Bachman, or Steven King by his real name. It was filmed with a $27 million budget and released in late November, 1987 by TriStar Pictures. The film features music by Harold Faltermeyer, cinematography by Thomas Del Ruth and stars the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger. His co-stars are Yaphet Kotto (Alien), Maria Conchita Alonso (Predator 2) and the legendary Richard Dawson of Family Feud television game show. The Running Man is based in a dystopian future where the United States has become a totalitarian police state. The government runs the show of the same name. The broadcast is to let criminals run for their lives and be hunted by stalkers. If they win, they earn their freedom. It's a great way to pacify the populace. Arnold plays Ben Richards, a police helicopter pilot who is framed for refusing to fire upon a food riot. After he escapes from prison, he finds himself fighting for his life in The Running Man. He takes on the mercenary stalkers one on one as he works on a plan to seek revenge on Damon Killian. Whilst The Running Man isn't as good a movie as Total Recall, The Terminator or Predator, it's still a very well crafted and very fun movie to watch. Like most '80s action movies, it doesn't mess around getting to the action. It's one great set piece after another. Lots of violence and one liners, some so good that many of us are still quoting them thirty something years later. Arnold is clearly at his peak physically. He's an absolute beast of a man. He works well with his co-stars, all of which do a good job through out. Richard Dawson as Damon Killian almost steals the show from Arnie. He has many great lines and comes across as one unlikeable *cough*. You can't help but love every scene he is in but you still want him to meet an epic end at the hands of Richards. He is a perfect villain in every way. There's some nice little spots from Jessie Ventura of all people and like Jessie, it's always over the top and has a great witty line. You'll also get a cool cameo from legendary musician Mick Fleetwood as the resistance leader Mic and Dweezil Zappa (son of Frank) of all people. It's a great list of actors and personalities. If you ask anyone about this film, they won't be able to pick one specific scene as the best. The prison escape, the chase through the airport or Sub Zero's ice skating and Buzzsaw's motorcycle chase. They are all great action scenes. There's also the now legendary battle between governors Schwarzenegger and Ventura. It's great gory fun. Also, a quick shout out to Erland Van Lidth De Jeude, who sadly died just after finishing the movie. God knows, no one can forget the odd image of the electrically charged opera singer turned merc, Dynamo. Each scene with these characters are all on beat, they're all overly energetic, they all have their great one liners and they're so memorable. I was well surprised by the picture quality that Fabulous Films produced for this movie. I was expecting it to be another easy cash grab like a lot of other Arnold Schwarzenegger bluray releases. But this one looks and sounds very good. The image is nice and crisp. The colours and shadows all look very strong. There's no real issues with the picture in fact. You can see every bulging muscle, every popping vein and every drop of sweat. It's so manly and awesome. The Running Man has been pretty well looked after and I'm glad to see that it has aged better than I had expected. Like a lot of great '80s action movies, this one has proven to be another timeless classic. It makes the leap to high definition with great strides. There's no going back to the old DVDs once you have seen this one. It's not ground breaking but it's exactly why physical media needs to be upgraded every 15 yrs. As a film, it's well worth picking up and a must buy if Arnold Schwarzenegger is your thing. This is Arnold at his peak, or the start of it. The Running Man has a great cast, great music and so many great scenes that it is so fondly remembered for a reason. You really can't go wrong.

The Running Man is one of Arnie's greatest films. Coming out towards the end of what was really a golden era for dystopian sci fi films, it tells the story of a political prisoner in a dictatorial US society being made to race for his life in a hit game show. Featuring a range of fantastic faces familiar from American culture in roles the audience would easily understand, Running Man takes Stephen King's original concept and turns it into as good an effort as mainstream Hollywood in the 80s could have achieved. The lead character Ben Richards is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and his performance is on familiar ground. Richards is the powerful hero who is able to physically overcome the many challenges thrown his way and powers his way past a set of entertainingly designed bad guys. With Arnie there is always the rough with the smooth and in this film one of the downsides is the huge number of one-liners he throws out - most of them are not at all funny unfortunately. In fact by far the best one-liner is from the main villain in response to Arnie's threat of being back. Still, the heavy accent and the misplaced attempts at comedy do not overshadow what is much more interesting a character than Arnie normally is offered. Richards is not the mindless or shallow killer that Arnie is famed for playing, he is a man who has one ambition - survival. That he gets caught up in a political struggle between the Government and the Resistance is dealt with excellently by Richards wanting himself and his friends to survive and finding the only way he can achieve that is to help the Resistance at the same time. The support cast is absolutely fantastic - Yaphet Kotto (Parker from Alien) and Marvin McIntyre play the two Resistance personnel who spring Arnie from capture early on in the film. As archetypes they work - Kotto's Laughlin as the radicalised academic and McIntyre's Weiss as the computer guy fulfil their roles excellently as a vehicle to move the plot along without ever getting in the way. The rest of the ensemble includes a great opportunity to celeb-spot. Mick Fleetwood might not be the world's finest actor but as leader of the Resistance it gives the viewer the opportunity to hum along some of his band's classics. Jesse Ventura - having not yet become Governor of Minnesota when the film was released - is absolutely terrific as Captain Freedom. Ventura being a wrestler has a great persona and seeing him reminisce at the sight of his own photo wearing the championship belt is a nice touch to provide a connection between the viewer at the time and the future the film portrays. This reviewer's personal favourite was Jim Brown and seeing him as Fireball is a rare treat. When he flies into action late on during the film, the one-liner about him being the leading rusher is laugh out loud genious. Brown's performance prior to his involvement in the physicality is him all over - stoic and strong. It is Richard Dawson who absolutely steals the show though as the main villain Damon Killian. Dawson satirises the game show host in a way that only a man who has lived that lifestyle for so long could. His loquacious and cunning character is by far the most engaging and the tired note he hits when providing a prize of the Running Man home board game is utterly magnificent. Killian represents what King's original story was about - the excess and control that television exerts over us. Killian manipulates his audience who love him absolutely and he is a part of a corporate machine that selectively edits to present even news in a format best suited to those in charge. Killian's line about steroids is so good in showing his deeper understanding of what is going on around him than any other character possesses. What is of course most important about The Running Man is the game itself. Ultra violent sports/games are a brilliant genre in themselves. The concept of the game is excellent especially with last season's three winners having earned their freedom. The game could have done with a bit more backstory though as it is not clear how those guys could have won when Richards is the first Runner ever to successfully kill a Stalker. The Stalkers are great over-the-top characters clearly designed for entertainment first and foremost. The kind of larger-than-life personas that dominate the airwaves these days. The game as a parody of game show television is superb because of the live studio audience. They cheer as Richards and his friends suffer pain and come close to death but mourn when one of their good guys takes a hit. It is the mob that is the real plot here and the fickle nature of popular support is nicely designed. The action sequences are strong and given that this was from the 80s and it is Arnie they are not overly ridiculous. Richards is as strong as the Stalkers he fights so it is right that their attempts to overpower him will not be as easy as they are used to. One downside of the film is love interest Amber played by Maria Conchita Alonso. She is grossly miscast as someone who can speak English and the possible in-jokes about accent that she portrays don't really work. The other downside is the final sequence which as was Hollywood's want in the 80s wraps everything up in a way that doesn't really make 100% sense. The original King ending would have made this untouchable in retrospect but the focus in a film like this should always be about the game itself because as showbiz The Running Man is simply excellent. There are no extras on the DVD so do not be disappointed by that discovery.

One of Arnie's best films, if you ask me. So much fun and well-paced.

Classic film,good value

Classic Arnie movie watched when growing up. Can't beat the oldies. Full of funny lines the famous "I'll be back" Just one of my favorites from Annie and price very reasonable to, as old movies cost a bomb. Nearly at 200 now in Prime, 196 I believe. And obviously uncut like the rest of them do and it's why I'll always purchase my movies on prime as you can guarantee there always untouched.

Great film. Arnie at his best

What can I say but BRILLIANT another great actioned from Arnie Schwarznegger and dir ected by Starsky and Hutch actor Paul Mich ael Glazer. I think Mr. Glazer does a really gr eat job in bringing this film together all of t he action setpieces are brilliantly performed and as per usual makes a great hero. I reco amend this movie to all Arnie fans. Enjoy.

A good film but this edited version has scenes left out.

やはりこのオリジナルが面白い。ちょっとチープな作りが、ものすごくたまらない。リメイクされそうだが、デスレースの二の舞にならないといいな。チープさがキモなんだ。

tout okee

This is a great movie set in a future gone wrong. It's no Blade Runner or Terminator, but still really enjoyable, and the first time Arnold had a lot of lines to say in a movie. Casting the game show host Richard Dawson as the host of Running Man was brilliant. Other than recommending it, I don't think I have a lot to add. When deciding whether to upgrade my old DVD to Blu Ray the first review that came up complained about the transfer. This is definitely a Hi Definition transfer, and much better quality than the letter box DVD I had previously. What might throw you is that the opening graphics might have been cgi (1980s cgi) and the film looks like the cinematographer subconsciously wanted it to be black and white. The transfer was probably from a vault copy of the film, not the negative. Its a clean transfer of a clean copy of the film. It would have been a sound artistic decision to make this film in black and white, the film doesn't look like it had as big budget as it did, but it had enough budget that black and white would have been out of the question.

Excelente sin subtítulos en español

Like most reviews, I'll not write about the movie itself, preferring instead to focus on the picture and sound transfer. In short, the video is nearly flawless. Very nice video transfer. The audio is amazing. A very rich, and dynamic DTS transfer, those with superior Home Theatre systems will be most pleased with the audio mix.