I never got into 80s action packed ultra-manly movies. I was never fan of them, as action scenes bore me. There was, however, quite a few of them in SciFi setting so this site will force me to finally get to know them.
So, Running Man is a 1987 SciFi movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger based on Stephen King’s story. In the not-so-distant future of 2017 the world faced an economic cryis and America became a totalitarian state. Captain Ben Richards (played by Arnold) is a police officer who refuses to massacre unarmed civilians. He finds himself to be government’s scapegoat and, as a result, is jailed. After a prison break, he is once again captured - but this time he is given a chance. If he participates in Running Man, an ultra-violent TV show, he may regain freedom.
There is a bit more to the story, but not much. What is there, however, was a surprise! There is a plot and there is commentary about risk of fascist state, of controlling crowds through entertainment, and about controlling the narrative by those in power. Running Man is 1984 if Orwell wasn’t so talented.
The entire world building happens in the first half an hour of the movie. The rest is an hour-long series of Richard’s fights against stalkers, professional killers who star in the show. And I have to be sincere here: I hated the second part much less than I anticipated. Yes, it’s over-the top and mindless, but it has nice gore.
But mostly because of the montage. I remember watching the second Avengers and absolutely hating it. Most of the movie was random characters fighting without any order. One cool scene after another. In Running Man, on the other hand, I was able to follow the plot of the fight. I knew not only what was going on, but I also had a vague understanding of where the fights were and where characters were in relations to another.
So, this movie is not a completely mindless fight scene. I should have hated it (like the aforementioned Avengers), but I did not. I haven’t loved it, or even truly liked it. Furthermore, I don’t feel like I lost anything by not watching it when it was played on repeat on TV. But it’s not offensive1, it’s not even boring. I enjoyed it, but I will never watch it again. It’s not one the great Schwarzenegger’s movies.
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Enjoyment-wise. The movie is very offensive with its sexualization of women. But this very nicely matches the metaphor in the story. This, however, would not be made with modern sensitivity. ↩︎