The Running Man (1987)

	Directed by: Paul Michael Glaser	COUNTRY USA GENRE Dystopian action NORWEGIAN TITLE The Running Man RUNNING TIME 101 minutes
	Produced by: George Linder Tim Zinneman
	Written by (based on the novel by Stephen King): Steven E. de Souza

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Captain Benjamin "Ben" Richards	Arnold Schwarzenegger
Damon Killian	Richard Dawson
Amber Mendez	María Conchita Alonso	½
"Captain Freedom"	Jesse Ventura	-
William Laughlin	Yaphet Kotto	-
"Fireball"	Jim Brown	-

Review

This dystopian action flick starring an out of depth Arnold Schwarzenegger was loosely based on a 1982 novel by Stephen King, written under his pseudonym Richard Bachmann. It does retain the novel's criticism of mass media and the entertainment industry, but the film is anything but subtle. The clumsy storytelling and overdone characters are a major impediment. The parodic angle chosen by director Paul Michael Glaser is supposed to add to the fun, but never translates into any sort of immersion. Instead, it narrows the scope of the story and buries whatever chances this had of working as a full-length feature film. What's left is just a very 1980s blob of rather predictable and repetitive action hoopla in which Arnold fights various other semi-famous steroid goons.