SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

praklaw-223-584309 Bad costumes, bad dialog, cheesy music and even more CHEESY villians....I swear....they literally covered one of the villians with a "light bright" gameboard. This was a full on released movie....V...a tv show released 3 years prior had 10x the special effects and quality....still love Arnold but the Running Man is near the bottom of crap barrel....probably his weakest film...though bad costumes and cheesy everything isnt his fault.

Smoreni Zmaj Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso, Jesse Ventura and Sven-Ole Thorsen. No, I didn't watch Predator again. :DFuturistic action movie based on Steven King's story, published under pseudonym Richard Bachman, tells a story about modern gladiator games in which convicts get a chance to win their freedom if they survive the arena. Movie about totalitarian regime, media monopoly and a world at the edge of ecological and economical disaster. And about always current 'panem et circenses' tactics. It was made in 1987. and story is placed in 2017. Once described future comes to pass, futuristic movies usually become unconvincing, but not this one. Although actual 2017. and 2017. in this movie seemingly have no touch points, difference is only in appearance, while essentially they are much more alike than we are comfortable to admit."Schwarzenegger rising, with his criminal one-liners, which had already developed their own personality and received a fee on separate bank account." - Aleksandar UroševićIf you are searching for top cinematography better pass this flick, but within the genre it's pretty good and, if you are looking just for good entertainment with decent plot, I warmly recommend it.6/10

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.

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.