The Running Man

Directed by Paul Michael Glaser, The Running Man follows Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Ben Richards as he’s forced to participate in a deadly game show where convicted criminals are hunted down and killed by vicious armed mercenaries known as Stalkers. It’s an appealingly broad premise that’s employed to erratic yet mostly watchable effect by Glaser, as the filmmaker, armed with Steven E. de Souza’s screenplay, does an effective job of establishing the narrative’s dystopian landscape and raft of memorable characters – with, in terms of the latter, Schwarzenegger’s predictably winning work, which remains an obvious (and continuing) highlight in the proceedings, matched by an appealingly eclectic supporting cast that includes Yaphet Kotto, Jim Brown, and Richard Dawson. (Dawson, playing the host of the aforementioned game show, turns in an often impressively smarmy performance that elevates the picture on a recurring basis.) It’s clear, then, that The Running Man‘s less-than-stellar atmosphere is a result of a hit-and-miss midsection that generally misses as much as it hits, with the lack of a streamlined narrative reflected in its assortment of underwhelming digressions involving certain far-from-fascinating periphery figures (ie the movie is ultimately at its best when focused on Richards’ exploits – which does, in the end, cement the film’s place as a decent-enough Schwarzenegger vehicle that often feels like it should be much, much better. (It’s impossible, at least, not to get a kick out of the myriad one-liners uttered by its beefy star.)

**1/2 out of ****