I rented this movie based on the enjoyment I felt when reading the novel by the same name. I read the movie was based on the novel written by Stephen King (under the alias Richard Bachman). After seeing, I wonder if the writers even read the book.
This movie had almost nothing to do with the book. I give the book a solid 5 stars, but this was bad. The main character, Ben Richards is, in the movie, a government employee who falls out of favor. This causes him to land in a fatal gameshow, The Running Man.
I won't say much more about the plot, it's not worth speaking on in the movie version. It's just too chopped up for me to try to cover coherently.
As for the rest of the movie: Shwarzenegger does a good job playing a bad role. You could even believe most of his anger and anguish. For him, this is a major accomplishment. He is well suited for the role of Ben Richards, due to his size and strength. He makes you believe he could do the impossible things the character does.
Arnold's co-stars aren't as fortunate in my review. Most seem wooden and false. Scenes that should contain high emotion come off as melodramatic at best. There just isn't any real heart in the acting, you can clearly see they took the job for a paycheck, not because they liked the script.
This backdrops in this movie aren't too bad. They convey the feeling they are meant to at times (often desperation and poverty) but almost as often they fall short. The setting is in a future version of our world but it looks an awfully lot like the 1980's to me. Maybe I'm too critical.
Overall, this isn't a bad idea for a movie. If they ever decide to remake it I'll happily direct it. I won't be renting it again however. Next time I'll just get Commando again.
The year is 2019 and television is ruling people s lives. The most popular game show is The Running Man, where convicts can win pardons by defeating m...More at Buy.com
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