THE RUNNING MAN (1987)
I have an unwritten rule. If I am making a movie about the future or doing a comic involving the future, I am setting it so far from now, that I won’t still be alive for people to tell me I am wrong about how things pan out.
This freakin movie happens in 2019 and needless to say, we don’t have anything like THE RUNNING MAN TV show just yet. I am not sure if Stephen King mentioned the year his story takes place in the book. Yeah – this is a Stephen King adaptation of a book he wrote under his pseudonym Richard Bachman. However, real life is mirroring the movie in that, the freedoms of the United States are eroding away and everything is starting to become more censored, filtered, and controlled in certain parts of the country and media. So they had that spot on, but let's move along. The government tries to calm everyone the hell down by putting on sadistic TV shows in primetime. The most popular of those shows is THE RUNNING MAN hosted by Damon Killian (played by once real-life game show host Richard Dawson, who also doesn’t like cussing). The idea of the show is for convicted felons to fight for their lives in a dystopian sealed-off arena that takes up several blocks. Just a hint, their chances of dying in the arena are extremely high since there are “stalkers” chasing them with stuff that will freakin kill you. The show needs to step it up to keep its ratings, so Ben Richards (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) who is like super tough gets framed as the Butcher Of Bakersfield. He is the next contestant on THE RUNNING MAN after gaining national attention for breaking out of prison.
I know I might have said this before, but for me, this is one of Schwarzeneggar’s best movies. It's jam-packed with ultra-cheese characters and ridiculously over-the-top wardrobes. It’s all simply amazing. This movie features the talents of Jesse Ventura, Jim Brown, and Maria Conchita Alonso. If you don’t know who she is, you might not watch very many movies. She is still acting to this day and has 111 credits to her name as of me writing this. She was also in COLORS and PREDATOR 2. This movie involves ice hockey, chainsaws, and dance choreography from Paula Abdul, the drummer from Fleetwood Mac, and 2 future governors. I mean what is not to love?
Overall the look at feel of this movie isn’t big budget. For a futuristic film, we get more of a “high school kids putting on a play at their high school in the gym” feel regarding the sets. Meaning the cinematography is off and the angles are just basic. Given that, the film does work on so many levels and I still enjoy watching it to this day. In fact, for me, had this thing been grittier and had it felt like it had a massive budget, I don’t know that it would have had the long-term appeal it does. I have to give THE RUNNING MAN a 5 out of 7. It’s not a perfect film and I wish it wasn’t almost all shot in the dark, but it is a classic not to be missed.
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