The Running Man (Special Edition)

This DVD is one of my favourite Ahhnold movies :o) so possibly the review is biased!!!

I am somewhat disappointed that this DVD has not come out in Australia, I have waited along time (in the mean time I have got the rest of the Arnold DVD's) for it to come out in Region 4 but still nothing, I saw it on Amazon (region 1: I believe this is American). Picture qulity is great, sounds is great and it has I high amount of Arnolds one liners! "Where is Buzzsaw"? "He had to split"!! haha - great!!!

It was between this or the second (but technically the first) Indiana Jones movie or this. I was surprised at myself, wanting to watch Indiana Jones, but it was too long. So this went on instead. I was forewarned about it being too eighties, but I think after you get warned about these things, they're don't jump out as much at you. Only the terrible hair & outfits, but they're only really the noticable things.

Stephne King movies have a habit of not being very good. Carrie & The Green Mile are exceptions, along with this. This film is loosely based on a novel written by Stephen King that he penned under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. He wrote the story in 72 hours, and it was published with virtually no changes.

Like 1984, this book/movie was way ahead of its time, and is much more relevant now, than it was then. The ending from the book to movie as changed, and I'm quite curious to find out what happened originally.

There are some great lines in this, mainly spoken by Arnie himself and some of the best are:

Ben Richards: Killian! I'll be back!
Damon Killian: Only in a rerun.

Damon Killian: You b*****d! Drop dead!
Ben Richards: I don't do requests.

Ben Richards: Uplink underground, uplink underground. If you say that one more time, I'll uplink your uplink your ass, and you'll be underground!

Ben Richards: [after strangling Sub-Zero with barbed wire)] What a pain in the neck.

Amber: [after Richards cut Buzzsaw in half with a chain saw] What happened to Buzzsaw?
Ben Richards: He had to split.

For a supposed special editon, there's not much in the way of extras, but they include: commentary by producer Tim Zinnemann, director Paul Michael Glaser and executive producer Rob Cohen; "Lockdown on Main Street": a documentary about the current state of privacy and criminal issues in a post-9/11 society; "Game Theory": an inside look at reality-TV programming and its cultural impact on society; "Meet the Stalkers": obtain inside information about the deadliest foes in The Running Man.

If you like Arnie, you'll probably adore this movie. Unless you're one of those people who complains about everything slightly eighties in it.

First of all, the movie has a great concept, but is VERY, VERY dated. The action sequences are cool, and Richard Dawson is sufficiently nasty.
Now about the extras everybody seems to be peeing their pants about. The documentary is obviously from a liberal perspective, but does it mean it's not true? We've engulfed ourselves in this "left/right" mode of thinking, regardless of facts. If any real conservatives (okay, there are a few, like Bob Barr, James Bovard, Ron Paul, etc. just not on this disc) existed, they would have reinforced the main points about the Patriot Act's destruction of our liberties. Most of these reviewers probably think Arnie's a conservative!

The book was great...Steven King was ahead of it's time. And the MOVIE was ahead of it's time. Too bad it was made pre-DVD time, because the "extras" are total crap. But it's worth it just to see Arnold say "once sub zero...now...plain zero!".

In a postapocalyptic world, the government frames Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) for a bloody massacre. He's given the option of staying in jail for life or participating in a "gladiator"-type game show that usually leads to death. He opts for the show, teaming with other contestants to survive the game and overthrow the corrupt system. This sci-fi thriller costars Richard Dawson in a twisted send-up of his game-show-host persona.