The Running Man [Blu-ray]

Entertaining and very different from the original

Great movie

Excellent 1080p version of the classic hit with an updated (dts-hd 5.1) audio track. Do note that the digital movie code says it might not be valid after March 7th 2025 but worked for me on January 5th 2026.

The Running Man is a film based on a surprisingly good short story by Stephen King. King's tale, a sort of beefed-up '1984', has a man on the run not only from the law, but from a repressive society at large. It's gritty, gruesome, and so different from the film as to be nearly unrecognizable. The film itself is quite good, although it should be noted from the onset that it has a lot of truly agonizing mid-1980s styles and mannerisms. Some seem almost farcical, such as the earrings and female hairstyles, but if you can look beyond them you'll likely enjoy this film. In a nutshell, good ol' Arnie plays a cop (really a special police trooper) who refuses to fire on unarmed food rioters and is arrested. Society has been transformed into a totalitarian nightmare where the masses are controlled through the media and spoon-fed various gameshows such as 'Climbing for Dollars' where people try to avoid attack dogs and earn cash prizes, and of course the most popular, the Running Man. The Running Man itself is a gameshow in which fugitives are released into 200 square blocks (the "game zone") of burnt out LA and then chased around by stalkers as a live studio audience watches. You can probably see where this is going. Long story short, of course Arnie and his buddies end up in The Running Man show and are chased around by some colorful and entertaining stalkers. The film does a fairly good job of playing around with the underlying social commentaries of facism and media control (Robocop actually does a better job, and there are similar tongue-in-cheek remarks made in Starship Troopers). Stalkers are picked to chase our heroes by housewives who like them "big and cuddly," audience members are chosen a la The Price is Right to win extra prizes including "The Running Man Home Version" board game, and as Arnie smashes, bludgeons, mauls, and one-liners his way through the various stalkers sent to kill him, he gradually wins over the crowd, and manages to roll back the media control gripping the masses. The film isn't nearly as gritty as the novel, and often seems downright cartoonish, with stalkers effectively interchangeable with modern professional wrestlers (in a few cases literally, such as Jesse "Captain Freedom" Ventura, who does a hilarious turn as a retired champion tapped to do away with vexatious Ahnold and who refuses to wear pastic robot armor for the home audience). All in all the film is a guilty pleasure with its endlessly entertaining one-liners and is about on par with Total Recall for its production values. As Arnold pictures go, I think it loses out to classics such as Conan the Barbarian or Predator, but still deserves a place in your DVD library.

No matter how many times they remake a movie nothing can touch the original.

On 1/24/26 The digital code wouldn't activate direct at Movies Anywhere but I went to Paramount and it redeemed OK. You can choose Apple TV or Fandango on Paramount.

Packed with action all the way from front to back

Great product

Super, snelle zending

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。

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.

Très bon film

Yo esperé hasta verla a 20 euros. La compré a 22. Muy bonita edición, con buen tacto, letras plateadas brillantes y en relieve, fotos interiores y la peli. Eso si, textos en alemán.