Runaway

Trailer—Runaway

I really can't stand these reviews complaining about dated this, dated that. It was made in the 80's. Appreciate it for what it was trying to accomplish. With direction by Michael Crichton, a film score by Jerry Goldsmith, and great performances helmed by the incredible chemistry between Tom Selleck and Cynthia Rhodes, accomplish it did. This is a great and fun movie, shamefully underrated by people with poor taste. Give it a try. Enjoy the interesting, wholesome and tense scenes within. I guarantee if you're someone with an open mind, you'll come away happy you saw it (and probably looking to buy a physical copy). Great 80's Sci-Fi flick!

RUNAWAY was never going to win any awards for brilliance or originality, but it is a damned fun sci-fi thriller elevated by the weird mechanical creations that dominate the movie. The performances are mostly competent, with Gene Simmons standing out as a delightfully over the top evil scientist with spider robot minions that pump their victims full of acid. I watched this after a long week and was thoroughly entertained.

Unjustly maligned science fiction action flick from the 80s, that greatest of decades, written and directed by Michael Crichton. Tom Selleck stars and it's probably his best film role. He's believable and likable here. Cynthia Rhodes and Kirstie Alley both are good in their parts. For years before I ever finally saw this I assumed Alley was the female lead but she's definitely not. For his part Gene Simmons is a great campy villain. The best parts of the movie are the robots that are charmingly old-fashioned looking yet more realistic, especially with the technology available at the time, than any of the limber acrobatic humanoid CGI robots that we see in films today. These robots are machines built for practical purposes not as nerd action fantasy objects. I'm not sure why this movie gets as much grief as it does. I think it's an underrated little gem that's definitely worth a look.

I have no idea why I've never seen this movie before, having been born in the early 80s, but I'm glad I waited to watch it until now since there's literally nothing new to watch because of the coronavirus. This movie is awesome, especially for it's time, but even now too. This movie might be timeless, but only time will tell.

A lot of critics complain about this movie but it was very well made for it's time. Not only does the movie show robots going out of control but it also shows a society of complete distrust and characters that are very cold. Gene Simmons from Kiss is perfect in the role with his looks and his voice as a sadistic villain that keeps managing to circumvent authorities. Chris Mulkey a bit actor is also good as an idiot that gets involved with Simmons. The script and soundtrack are excellent. Tom selleck also goes well as a frustrated cop who is fiercely determined to stop the bad guy and is humorously sarcastic to the people he deals with.

Okay this movie is far from perfect. However, on a rainy day, or lazy weekend afternoon the movie is highly enjoyable. Like a lot of movies it starts out great but gets a little silly towards the end. What makes this movie is Tom Selleck. He is a very under-appreciated actor, who always seems to breathe life into the dullest of movies. Here he takes what could of been a much sillier movie and brings a lot of believability to his role and to the story. Even if it is about robots going nuts. Michael Crichton directed this one, strange that he didn't write it as a book first, cause it is a great story. A little ahead of it's time which might explain it's poor performance with the critics and at the box office. Definitely worth checking out. Great Jerry Goldsmith score.

The beauty of "Runaway" - . . . well, there are a few, actually. It's a good marriage of cop movie and plausible science fiction, a nasty villain (Gene Simmons with that creepy stare) and it works pretty much as well now as it did 30 years ago - which is something when we're talking a movie that's as unabashedly '80s as this. Selleck and Rhodes (hello!) have a good rapport, and the car "chase" scene on the freeway was pretty well don. On second thought, this probably shouldn't be as watchable as it is, but then again, Crichton actually manages to wring some nice suspense out of tiny robots. 7/10

A robotics division of the police force was created to deal with "runaways." Those would be robots that have gone haywire and need to be fixed or shutdown. Why that would fall under the police's jurisdiction is beyond me. I would think that the Geek Squad would be more suited for that job. At any rate, when a mysterious computer chip is found in a runaway and a man is killed by a bullet that acted more like a guided missile, Jack Ramsay (Tom Selleck) uncovers a sinister plot. This movie is not too far from reality. I don't ever see the police force getting a robotics division but check out what was in the movie that is now normal: floater cameras (known as drones today), robots doing all kinds of jobs, smart devices, and chipped bullets (OK, that's not normal but I could see that happening). Like so many movies about technology and computers, this was about such things getting into the wrong hands.

This was a decent suspense film with a different twist for its day, dealing with robots. The idea has since been copied in a few films. Here, cops go after runaway robots and after a villain who is trying to steal deadly weapons (gosh, that's original). The special effects are pretty good - especially since this was made over 20 years ago - and I particularly enjoyed watching the heat-seeking bullets fired from the villain's gun. Rock star Gene Simmons, by the way, does a nice job as the bad guy. As entertaining as this Tom Selleck movie was, it had a B-quality to it with some stupid and predictable dialog. The climactic scenes were very predictable. You just knew certain things were going to happen...and they did. Yet, it was fun to watch and worth one look.