Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Scott LeBrun Arnold Schwarzenegger is at his ass-kicking, quipping best in this superior sci-fi action spectacular. It's the "future", and police officer Ben Richards (Arnold) is framed for a massacre of rioters. After busting out of prison, he's ultimately caught again, and is made to participate in the nations' most popular competition show, "The Running Man". Hosted by the extremely smarmy Damon Killian (Richard Dawson, incredibly well cast), it offers convicted criminals their own chance at freedom - IF they can evade the executioners who dress in colorful costumes and who are referred to as "Stalkers"."The Running Man" offers a fair bit of food for thought. Now that we've actually reached the year in which this movie takes place, it makes us think about the world we live in, and where we're possibly headed. Much like "Network" 11 years before it, "The Running Man" became a prophetic movie, depicting the advent of so-called "reality television" in our society. And it also makes us think about how the media may be constantly manipulating information before we ever get to see it.Not that "The Running Man" is all substance and no style, of course. It's also a tried and true Arnold vehicle, in which he gets to strut his stuff and offer up a one-liner every time he overcomes an antagonist. "Here is Sub Zero. Now, *Plain* Zero!" The lighting, the sets, and the costumes are a delight to behold, in this portrayal of a Dystopian future where the unruly lower class are held in check by being delivered the lurid thrills of this "game show". Harold Faltermeyers' music is catchy, as it always is. There is some potent violence, although the squeamish should know that the gore doesn't really get all that hard for them to handle.Arnold is supported by a pretty eclectic mix of performers: Maria Conchita Alonso as his feisty leading lady, Yaphet Kotto and Marvin J. McIntyre as his prison associates, Jim Brown, Jesse Ventura, Erland Van Lidth (whose final film this was), Bernard Gus Rethwisch, and Professor Toru Tanaka as assorted "Stalkers", and musicians Mick Fleetwood and Dweezil Zappa. Familiar faces in small roles include Sven-Ole Thorsen, Edward Bunker, Kurt Fuller, Ken Lerner, Dey Young, Thomas Rosales Jr., and Lin Shaye. Although designed as an Arnold vehicle, it's Dawson that really makes "The Running Man" come to life.A very fun movie that, if anything, looks better today than it did when it first came out.(Loosely) based on a novel by Richard Bachman (a.k.a. Stephen King)."Killian, I'll be back!" "Only in a rerun."Eight out of 10.

asenstoyan4ev Introduction:Who the king is? Arnold is the king of the show!It is the year 1987. Ronald Reagan rules the USA, Andy Warhol quietly dies after giving a brand new notion of "modern art". Oliver Stone's war masterpiece "Platoon" wins the Oscar award for best motion picture of the year.Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger continues his glorious forward march in Hollywood, by participating in the blockbuster "The Running Man", initially conceived by the rich imagination of Richard Bachman, a.k.a. the master of horror Stephen King.In fact, the sci-fi action film, directed by the famous TV director and actor Paul Michael Glaser ("Starsky and Hutch") is far from being a horror flick. Moreover, a movie starring the ludicrous Arnie can hardly be given a different definition from comedy or parody. Or at least it looks that way.The plot:Following the eponymous novel by Stephen King, the plot tells the story of the wrongly convicted for a massacre Ben Richards who is forced to participate in a highly popular reality show on TV, called "The Running man".In this show, convicted criminals are given the opportunity to fight for their freedom. In order to achieve that, they must face different "stalkers"-men who hunt them all over the city with various deadly weapons. One must admit that the director has put successful efforts in his desire to recreate the futuristic, catastrophic and totalitarian society, developed by Stephen King.The Cast:The beautiful Maria Conchita Alonso in the role of Amber Mendez, the two celebrated ex-wrestlers Jesse Ventura as Captain Freedom and Professor Toru Tanaka as Subzero as well as Jim Brown, probably the most glorious NFL player ever in the role of Fireball, are among the most famous names in the cast.This is a Funny Action Movie because:Without any doubt, all eyes are on Arnold who once again steals the show and it is because of him that the film is so successful and laughable. There are plenty of unintentional comic moments featuring "the Austrian Oak" and we are all sure that the director didn't cut them on purpose. After all, the key to a successful Arnold movie is just to let the guy be himself in front of the camera.arnold running manThe comedy starts at the very beginning of the movie where Arnold is driving a chopper and when the crew attacks him, he starts with his moaning, which sounds like coming from a wounded panda. The famous "Aaaargh" is back again, and combined with his unbelievable Austrian accent and funny face moves, will definitely make you laugh.No need to mention the huge, almost unnatural muscular physic, that makes him look like a sweet debil. His muscularity and inhuman strength are demonstrated in the scene where he is easily carrying an enormous metal branch.Funnily, the scene reminds the one from "Commando", where Arnold is carrying a huge stump, all sweaty and with his biceps about to explode. He is just like a bodybuilder and at some moment, he is wearing a t-shirt with a stamp "World Gym". At this precise moment, I paused the movie and went to hit the iron by doing bench press push-ups.When our character is already in the reality show, he wears a ridiculous and tight yellow circus outfit, which makes him look even more retarded.Enough credits for Mr. Olympia.The so-called "stalkers" or the hunters who chase him also look very pathetic. Their costumes and unreal weapons make them look like little children who act in a school play and expect a candy from their parents in the end. Here, it is important to mention the "trying to be sinister" Dynamo who is dressed with dozens of luminous bulbs, just like a Christmas tree.In general, Arnie easily kills all stalkers and a smart line follows every killing to underline his supremacy.And how the heck it is possible to be in 1987 and to consider that in 2017 the cassettes will still be the main way of listening to music?Conclusion:The movie is full of dumb humor and sometimes, absurd lines, like the celebrated "I will be back". Arnold's acting is hilarious and wooden and the director pays homage to the feet fetish, showing Maria Conchita Alonso's beautiful legs in a pantyhose. So, enjoy! There is something for everybody.With a budget of 27 000 000 $ "The Running Man" is for sure worth watching, especially if you are a die-hard Arnold fan and a Stephen King admirer.Oh, and beware that you will probably feel the burning desire to go to the gym to pump your muscles.

CallEmLike ICem This is a movie with a message, and the message is: this is not a good movie. It's very badly written. The acting is awful. It isn't even well lit, making you long for an earlier era when that was kind of a minimum."The Running Man" keeps hitting you over the head letting you know it's set in the future, and it's a bad future. But it never feels like anyone who knew or cared about science-fiction or action had a thing to do with it. It does feel like, some people with way more money than sense decided you didn't need to know anything about making movies to make one. And if they knew anyone with knowledge about how to make a good one, they went way out of their way not to ask them about it.It doesn't even work as a piece of lowly exploitation, unless a few shots of Maria Conchita-Alonso in form-fitting Lycra are enough to make you blush. I was stunned to recall critics of this era said Arnold Schwarzeneger was not a good actor, since his performance is the only thing that makes this tolerable to watch for even a second. Richard Dawson's attempts to portray a malevolent game-show host are something that should have been left on the cutting-room floor of "Family Feud."Lacking any type of momentum, the movie makes attempts to whip up emotion in the viewer, attempts which work out as ludicrously failed as everything else.Not helping anything either is the fact that fashion has moved on, and people do not usually appear covered in Lycra nowadays, as they do in "Running Man." And for that, at least, I feel grateful.

gavin6942 A wrongly convicted man (Arnold Schwarzenegger) must try to survive a public execution gauntlet staged as a game show.Original director Andrew Davis was fired one week into filming and replaced by Glaser. Schwarzenegger has stated this was a "terrible decision" as Glaser "shot the movie like it was a television show, losing all the deeper themes". I don't know if this is true or not, as it would be really hard to comment on a version of a film that doesn't exist.I think the themes are still there: the American love of violence, the growing prominence of television and ratings, the distrust of government. Sure, it is covered with a candy shell. Amid the violence, we have some silly characters (Dynamo) and plenty of one-liners. This may have the most Schwarzenegger one-liners in a single film, and they are appropriately awful.