Caught up with Running Man

Today I decided to check out a more of a sci-fi Arnold movie. “Running Man” is a wacky movie based on a Stephen King book, though fairly loosely. Most importantly, this is one of the few movies I was more into looking forward to watching. A close friend of mine loves this film, and he would always be quoting it. Sadly never getting any of the jokes, I decided on watching it. My exhausting thoughts are the jump.

I thought the story is one of the most interesting part of the movie. In a dystopian America during the year 2019. A weekly show called the “The Running Man”. Where they take contestants (usually felons) and run them to a maze. If they complete the maze, they get their freedom. But it isn’t as simple as that, they have to verse against the Stalkers, who are out there just to kill these felons. Ben Richards (Schwarzenegger) has been wrongly convicted for killing a bunch of innocent people. Now Ben is now forced to play this game to win his freedom.

Arnold in his stupid jump suit. Makes him look like a banana.

This movie is real fifty fifty. Because of the great story, it leads to the movie being played out well. I liked the plot, and the progression of the movie was fluid and enjoyable. I liked the series of Stalkers. So the overall feel of the movie was positive. There were a few problems.

The good guys weren’t all that fun to watch. This includes Arnold’s character. And to worsen the situation the acting was bland. This is the second movie with Maria Conchita Alonso that I saw. I didn’t like her here and I didn’t like her in Predator 2. Though I did like the Stalkers, but for the wrong reason. They were super corny, over the top and fairly lame. For example, Dynamo was a opera singer, with L.E.D’s on him like Christmas lights and his special power is shooting electricity out of his fingers. I mean, how do you screw that sweet power up?

Dynamo may be the stupidest character ever.

The action was pretty lame when it comes to an Arnold movie, one of his fights is with Subzero, who is a hockey goalie. His weapon is blade in the shape of a goalie stick and Arnold fights him on the ice rink. Very tacky and nothing real interesting happens. I really didn’t like the fights all that much. They were unentertaining and lacking the cool factor. To top it all off, his one liners were really weak. There was only one good line, when Richards cuts Buzzkill in half starting from his groin. As both Richards and Amber (Alonso) runaway, she asks him where is Buzzkill. Arnold response with “He had to split.”

At the end of the day I didn’t like the movie all that much. It lacked action, cheesy lines and most importantly uninspiring characters. I thought the movie had great potential with the story. But if anything I want to read the book and leave the bad taste of “The Running Man” behind me and replace it with a better experience.

Arnold Rating:

One-liners: Lame and not enough of them.

Action: Plenty of it, just none of it was good or interesting