In 2017 following an economic collapse the U.S. has become a totalitarian police state. When Captain Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) refuses to fire on unarmed civilians rioting for food he is relieved of command and later framed for their massacre and sent to a work camp. Following his escape and recapture he is forced to become a contestant on the TV show The Running Man where he must survive against ‘stalkers’ whose job is to chase and kill him. 

The Running Man sets off at a pace worthy of its title. Before the half hour mark of the film we have been presented with a dystopian vision of the United States of America, seen Ben Richards framed for the massacre of hundreds of starving people that were actually slaughtered by the controlling regime, witnessed Richards escape a work camp with his two fellow convicts Laughlin (Yaphet Kotto) and Weiss (Marvin J. McIntyre), rooted for him as he tries to escape with the forced assistance of state broadcaster employee Amber Mendez (Maria Conchita Alonso) and then recaptured and blackmailed into appearing on The Running Man by sleazy host Damon Killian (Richard Dawson). But before you get time to capture your breath Schwarzenegger is in a bright yellow spandex suit trying to escape this world’s version of gladiators trying to murder him in the most entertaining way possible. 

1987’s The Running Man is based on a Stephen King novel (under his pseudonym Richard Bachman) of the same name published in 1982. The novel is actually set in 2025 though which of course will be the year that British director Edgar Wright brings a new adaptation of the book, which based on trailers will be far closer to the written storyline. This 1987 adaptation is far looser and is filled with some fantastic Schwarzenegger action movie charms. 

The pizzazz and lunacy of the show here is one of the film’s greatest assets. Whilst the book is forty-three years old and the film a more spritely thirty-eight years old, thanks to the explosion of reality television it never feels like something entirely unbelievable! Perhaps watching it on release in 1987 might have given it more shock value as something outlandish. Fronted by the vain and egotistical Damon Killian who is perfectly played by Richard Dawson as an over the top showman in front of camera and a callous fame hunter behind it we can instantly understand some of its allure as a spectacle. That spectacle is enhanced by dancing girls, spandex uniforms for the contestants and of course the fantastic roller coaster cars that deliver them to the arena. And then of course there is what must have been the inspiration for modern day game show Gladiators where the ‘stalkers’ have outlandish names such as Sub Zero, Buzz-saw, Dynamo and Fireball along with costumes and weapons to match their monikers. In fact it feels like a cross of Gladiators and The Crystal Maze with the idea of ‘zones’ that the contestants must traverse. 

Of course 1980’s game show spectacle is not the only reason we are here because this after all is an Arnold Schwarzenegger film at the height of his action hero career. With the first one liner less than ten minutes into the film we are treated to some superb violence and cheesy humour along the way. And with the likes of Captain Freedom (Jessie Ventura who also starred in Predator in the same year with Schwarzenegger) and the aforementioned ‘stalkers’ for Schwarzenegger to fight there is a lot of humour in the grisly set pieces. 

The Running Man manages to be a quintessential 1980’s Schwarzenegger action movie and still maintain an interesting message about how the media can be used to control and sate the masses. But most of all it’s just a lot of fun.