The Running Man SE DVD Review:

The Running Man SE DVD

Taking advantage of a society seemingly overtaken with reality television programs, where we often observe the most private and painful moments of
other’s lives, Artisan and Lions Gate Home Video have released a special edition version of The Running Man, a film which is scathingly close to that very society.

Perhaps The Running Man was far ahead of it’s time, predicting the future of our entertainment world, or perhaps they were just trying to
make an entertaining action film starring then huge action star, now huge political figure, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yet, regardless of intentions in
the late eighties, the new release on DVD has focused most of its attention on reality programming, adding a certain level of intelligence that is certainly lacking from the undeniably entertaining, yet basic film which is The Running Man.

Filled with typical Schwarzenegger action and one liners, Running Man is a ride worth taking, an action film that is not by any means a great film, but definitely a fun film to watch occasionally. Directed by televisions Starsky and Hutch director, Paul Michael Glaser, and filled with many odd ideas, this film ends up looking somewhat like Rollerball, without the awareness of the satire in the material.

The Running Man takes place in 2019, in a world where society has fallen apart, and one television show is used to warp the truth to all of its viewers. Although that sounds similar to television today as well, there is one large difference. People die on this show which is why it is the highest rated show. In fact that is nearly the only point of the game.

Convicts must survive the assassins out to kill them, and if they survive, they have a full pardon. If they don’t survive, well, they are dead so it doesn’t really matter much. The convicts must run from hired killers, called Stalkers, who each have an
individually creative way of slaughtering their prey.

To top it all off, they are not used to losing, which sets the film up perfectly for Arnold. After refusing to slaughter a group of unarmed citizens, Arnold is put in prison. It doesn’t make sense, which just reinforces the fact that the society they live in is really screwed up. Soon they realize that Arnold, or
Ben Richards if we want to actually believe he is a character other than himself, is not going to be contained very easily. So they offer him the
opportunity to free himself by trying to win it on The Running Man.

What happens after that can be guessed by any person who has ever seen any Schwarzenegger film before, but just in case, I won’t spoil it for anyone.
This truly is an entertaining film, and there is a lot of interesting post 911 commentary on this special edition which makes it a valuable buy, assuming it’s your cup of tea. The transfer is impressive, and overall the whole package looks really good. There are enough special features for an educated person to enjoy, such as Lock Down on Main Street, a documentary about the current state of privacy and criminal issues in the post 911 society, and Game Theory, a documentary on reality television programming and its cultural impact on society. There are even a few special features for the non-thinkers in the group, such as Meet the Stalkers, and in depth look at all of the brutal killers of The Running Man.

Basically there is something for everyone that happens to like extremely violent films.

Ryan Izay

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