THE RUNNING MAN

*

STARRING: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchito Alonso, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto, Jim Brown, Jesse Ventura

1987, 101 Minutes, Directed by: Paul Michael Glaser

Set in a bleak future where the powers-that-be throws lavish and violent television entertainment to keep the masses happy and docile (so what else has changed?). The TV entertainment in question is a mixture between Wrestle Mania and Battle of Gladiators. For keeps, of course.

Schwarzenegger is a soldier who has fallen into disfavour after resisting orders to fire on unarmed protestors and is thrown in the midst of this arena to survive.

Satiric points (which one has to really dig deep for - it isn't that intelligent a movie) aside, this film based on a short story by Richard Bachman (i.e., Stephen King) offers nothing new. It has already been done: most notably in Rollerball and countless comic books.

Worse, the movie lacks any real tension and seems to be a host of fight scenes hastily added together.