The Running Man was,
to me, a movie with too many one-liners and not-so-great settings, yet it still
managed to pull it off with its futuristic tone.
Set in a time when the world is in turmoil, and the only thing bringing people
together is watching The Running Man on TV, this film sticks to the
apocalyptic tone that many stories have adopted as the future of humanity.
Set in the year
2017 (which happens to be the year I’m watching this movie for the first time),
it features the ‘80s Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had already cemented his name
as the ultimate one-man army action hero. The film is based on a novel of the
same name by Richard Bachman, and the scriptwriters—along with the
director—deserve applause for keeping me on the edge of my seat.
The style of delivery keeps you waiting without boring you as you anticipate
the start of the Running Man event. Once the event begins, the movie moves at a
fast pace until the very end.
The result of these actions lands him in prison, with the deaths of the civilians blamed on him. The story is twisted to make it seem like Arnold wanted to kill the civilians, refused to stop, and had to be detained.
He breaks out of
jail with some revolutionaries who want to broadcast a message to the world
about what’s really going on and how TV is enslaving people, keeping them from
the truth.
Unfortunately,
Arnold and his friends are caught and placed in the Running Man game
show. The show involves contestants running for their lives while being hunted
by “Stalkers,” whose job is to kill the runners.
Arnold and his teammates show the viewers that he won’t be easy to take down.
The whole movie revolves around how he and his teammates try to reach freedom
when the odds are stacked against them, and the game can be easily rigged to
end their lives.
Well, it’s 2017,
and the apocalypse that would lead to the world turning against itself isn’t
near yet. But we can admit that we’re witnessing TV taking control of how
people think.
Despite its lack
of great lines and settings, The Running Man is a good movie. The
ending is similar to the cut scenes in superhero movies, where the announcer
gives us a sponsor credit rundown for The Running Man TV game show.
0 comments:
Post a Comment