Night of the Running Man

Directed by Mark L. Lester, Night of the Running Man follows Las Vegas cabbie Jerry Logan (Andrew McCarthy) as he attempts to make a run for it with $1 million worth of the mob’s money – with the character’s hastily-conceived plan backfiring after a relentless hitman (Scott Glenn’s David Eckhart) begins his pursuit. It’s a solid premise that’s employed to erratic yet mostly watchable effect by Lester, as the filmmaker, armed with a script by Lee Wells, delivers a briskly-paced thriller that benefits substantially from its assortment of compelling sequences and the uniformly agreeable performances – with, in terms of the latter, Glenn’s persistently entertaining turn as the seemingly unstoppable antagonist ranking high on the movie’s list of appealing elements. There is, however, never a point at which Night of the Running Man quite becomes the gripping endeavor its premise might’ve promised, and it’s clear, certainly, that the sporadic inclusion of questionable subplots and asides results in a fairly disastrous absence of momentum – although, by that same token, Lester’s go-for-broke approach to the material does ensure that certain interludes pack an unexpectedly visceral punch. (Jerry’s encounter with one of David’s associates, played by a scenery-chewing John Glover, is an obvious highlight.) The end result is a just-good-enough piece of work that’s admittedly heads and shoulders above much of its low-budget, low-rent brethren, with the stunt casting of Wayne Newton as a vicious mob boss undoubtedly reason enough to give Night of the Running Man a look.

**1/2 out of ****