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Visitors Review

2012-05-25 23:10:14

great all time classic

Runaway is a great classicly old film the robotics are dated but that is to be expected considering its made in 1984!, It still doesn't stop the fact its definately one for the collection? I couldn't help but enjoy the film the first time i watched it or the last!

tenthousandtattoos 2012-05-25 02:58:14

The Incredible Mo's adventures in space

I was actually looking for another Tom Selleck movie, An Innocent Man,but could only find this in my local video-store bargain bin. Saw it asa kid and thought hey, why not...Gene Simmons, some killerrobots...should be good! Now, I like "bad" movies...especially cheesy80's stuff, but even I gotta draw a line somewhere. This one was justtoo "bad" even for me. See it for a laugh at just how cheap some SPFXgot before the days when CGI can make anything look "nice" and "clean".See it for examples of truly atrocious dialogue and 8th-grade dramaclass acting. See it for...well, thats about it really.Silently screamed or out-loud laughed in several places.1) First kick was when Selleck goes into the house to track down themalfunctioning vacuum cleaner armed with a knife (no wait, it found agun!) and just before he goes in he puts on his "electromagneticdeflection suit" or something...puh-leeeze. He may as well have shoutedtriumphantly, "Never fear! I'm wearing my electromagentic deflectorsuit!" Never mind it looks like the costume guys hit the scuba storefor a shark-mesh-body-suit, then hopped across to sporting goods for abaseball catcher's vest and some soccer shin-guards. Then the propsguys needed a gun so they went to the funny shop and got one of thoseray guns that makes the synthesizer sounds and lights up when you pressthe button, plus a fake moustache for Tom (hang on...that was REAL??!!)2) The little "killer" robots look like something my 6 year old nephewwould make with his meccano set.3) Shouted at the screen: why don't you just kick the stupid littlerobots before they try to squirt you with their little turkey bastersfull of acid? (which mind you must be CITRIC acid or something becausewhen good ol' Tommy Selleck gets it in the face it just seems to turnhis cheeks a bit red) 4) laughed out loud at the final scene whereTommy's getting it on with his partner under a shower of sparks (iguess the sparks were symbolic, i cant remember any arc welders nearby)and the way he touches her nose while kissing her...yikes, yikes,yikes...that could NOT be more cheesy if it tried.

2012-05-19 05:57:33

good movie

This review is from: Runaway (DVD) Forgot how good the movie was. Tom Selleck is as good as ever. Good action. The whole family can watch it.

in-the-fade 2012-05-18 18:57:08

"Nothing works right."

This low-budget adaptation is soundly made, but not particularlyexciting 80s Sci-fi thriller penned and directed by best-sellingnovelist Michael Crichton. Everything is rather simplistic with ab-like quality, as the material while innovative (a cop who deals withrobots that go haywire, goes after a criminal that's using microchipsto prefect a deadly weapon) and gimmicky in its idea (society relyingon technology), it however just doesn't dig in deep enough. Even thetone is somewhat uncertain, as it tries to be comical but also serious…but never does it entirely gel. It plays a cat and mouse game, as thecops are always one step behind as the villain is trying to cover uphis tracks. Sometimes preposterous, but fairly impulsive and dangerouswhere Crichton's assured direction keeps a flexibly kinetic pace andmaintains some flashiness despite the predictability of its projection.Special effects are well-done (gotta love what can only be a Loisreference to "The Jetsons") and so is the technical side. The cast isquite modest, but the leads Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons seem to besleepwalking through it. Selleck is earnest, but looks preoccupied (butthis could be because of his troubled minded character) and rock-starSimmons does threatening psycho ("He likes to kill people") by simplygetting by with his devilish grin alone. Nonetheless the support;Cynthia Rhodes, Stan Shaw, G.W. Bailey, Kristie Alley and Chris Mulkeyshoot up the energy levels. Lazy, but reliable matinée movieentertainment.

2012-05-18 07:51:14

great acting and nice plot.

Tom Sellect is an actor who has many faces. I especially like him in westerns, but he always gives any script his all. He did in RunawaySusan`

2012-05-17 15:59:01

Pure fun!

This review is from: Runaway (DVD) Runaway is what I pictured the future to be like, if robots were slowly, logical, inserted into human society. They pop up everywhere, from our homes to our businesses, from our cars to our weapons. There is drama, humor, horror, greed, lovely actresses, great actors, wonderful if sometimes over-the-top special effects - like the exploding Gene Simmons. Everything you could want, including Kirstie Alley undressing, all written and directed by Michael Crichton. This movie is so individual and stand alone I can't even suggest a book or movie you may also like after watching it. The plot is simple - terrorist has chip designed that allows him to program robots, any robots, to kill. In a world where robots are now in every layer of our culture this is like the idea of a slave revolt in the Roman Empire. The 'Runaway' Squad happens to realize what is happening after stopping a robot gone out of control and finding one of the chips. Enjoy!

Grann-Bach 2012-05-16 10:19:56

Stupid, but fun

Where to begin? While this is the only thing directed by Chrichton thatI've watched, I'd say it's a pretty strong argument against him beingallowed to. You know, back when it could happen. He came up withseveral popular concepts, and this is probably one of the moreoverlooked of them. The robots are well-designed, reasonably varied intype and at times pretty scary, and the effects used to bring them tolife aren't half bad. This has acting of rather mixed quality, withsome of it being tremendously poor. The kid is downright reprehensiblyawful. This is also *very much* an 80's exploitation flick. A policechief that complains about the lead breaking the rules, a gratuitoustopless shot, and a one-note villain oddly played by that dude fromKISS. If you know what you're in for, and you're in the right mood,this can be very enjoyable. The suspense if relatively well-done, andfor as implausible it is, you gotta admit that the weapon Luther useskicks serious ass. Editing and cinematography are fairly standard. Thecomedy is hit and miss. There is a lot of bloody violence anddisturbing content, as well as occasional moderate to strong languagein this. I recommend it to those that find what I've described hereappealing. 6/10

2012-05-16 03:18:41

Great Popcorn Fun

This review is from: Runaway (DVD) I suppose if you read all my reviews, you may be inclined to think I rate everything five stars. That's not really so, I'm just inclined to rate what I enjoy the most. I've seen thousands of movies in my lifetime, everything from "Manos, hand of Fate" to "Gone with the Wind" and "Dr. Zhivago." Yes, five here, too for Runaway. Runaway is no GWTW or DZ, but it's a good, very well casted little movie. What better a villain to have than to be portrayed by Gene "KISS - demon" Simmons is there? He got into his part with relish. You can tell he enjoyed playing his role. Tom Selleck is a strong selling point with my wife. Cynthia Gibb is cute as a button and had no trouble invoking sympathy when she got that explosive bullet lodged in her arm. Did you realize how big that thing was, probably about a .60-caliber? Kirsty Ally was great, too. What a waste - oops, did I just give something away? I tend to be mean like that. The plot was pure sci-fi, and the episodes with the robots were downright funny, and rather wicked on occasion. That cute police woman with big glasses who got iced by a spider-bot in the men's room made me eager to see Simmons' character get his. Things kept going at a good pace most of the time. I have to admit my blood sugar rose during the scenes with Ramsey's son. A bit syrupy there, but oh, well, chase scenes and the conflict on the exterior elevator toward the end pushed the cutesy stuff out of the way like a Mack truck in a parking lot full of VW bugs. I have a fear of heights myself, so I reeeaaally empathized with Ramsey in the final showdown. When I saw this movie in the theater, that last little thing Simmons did sent just about everybody straight up out of their seats. If you wonder what I'm talking about, watch this movie on a large screen TV or get up close if you don't have a big screen, and, oh yeah, turn up the volume a bit. Get yourself some popcorn, sit back, relax while you can, and just enjoy Runaway.

2012-05-14 05:47:47

Gem

This review is from: Runaway (DVD) Although this wasn't a popular movie for Tom Selleck, we have enjoyed it immensely and watch it often. His acting is always superior and he doesn't disappoint.

2012-05-13 20:46:42

AN INTERESTING PREMISE THAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER

I'll actually give this one 3 1/2 stars. It is the future although when is never actually stated but it's certainly the very near future. A mad Doctor Charles Luther, straight out of Monogram "B" movie is creating robotic devices with the power to kill and sending them loose on his targets. That mag doctor is played by Gene Simmons of KISS and he plays it menacingly to the hilt as a modern day Bela Lugosi. Over the top but sinfully fun!Tom Selleck and Cynthia Rhodes play a couple of special Ops cops whose job it is to track down rogue robots. Kirstie Alley, when she was still smoking hot, plays Luther's secretary. It was 1984 and this wasn't a huge budget film so don't expect "I, Robot" type special effects. These robots kind of look like the type of things kids could build using that old Robotix construction sets. Things like mechanical spiders and the such. Only these robots could shoot bullets or spray acid.The film was directed by Michael Crichton and he does a pretty decent job with what he has to work with. The action scenes are done very well, particularly the "smart bullet" sequence as well as the climax with Selleck attacked by those robotic spiders. Selleck is fairly wooden in his role and doesn't seem to fit well with a more gung-ho action role. It's still a fun movie, if for nothing else than to see Simmons' evil stare.

noizyme 2012-05-06 04:31:25

Wow, 80's "future" movies...awesome. Well, average fun...

OK, for some reason, in the future we have larger than necessary robotsdoing the jobs that humans are tired of doing. When they screw up, TomSelleck is here to use the awesome authority he has in the police forceto shut down (usually destroys) these robots before more harm is done.There are field bots for corn crops, house bots which do the dishes andthe like, constructo-bots that stack things where you need them tostack things, and office bots and all different types of them.Now, Tom Selleck has another job of fending off spider bots, which weredesigned to sadistically kill people at the will of Gene Simmons'character. But Selleck better fend off Simmons' crazy magic bulletswhich contains an explosive in each one, but only goes after exactpeople who are programmed in it to kill.Sound crazy...yeah, it was. A stretched-thin story made good use out ofits imagination. The special effects were OK (the magic bullet-cam, thelaser-gun Selleck uses, the "fast" RC-cars packed with explosives), butmost were pretty rudimentary compared with others at the time. Themusic was done by Jerry Goldsmith (a plus) who's worked on Legend,Alien, The Omen, Chinatown, Basic Instinct, Gremlins, and a slew ofothers.Gene Simmons was an interesting choice as the bad guy (who apparentlywas only chosen after seeing him mug an evil-looking face for a while),but he was entirely too evil for his brainiac ways that he was supposedto be. Kirstie Alley was probably cast after saying yes to herstrip-down scene (in which you don't see any nudity). It was cool tosee Joey Cramer (from Flight of the Navigator fame) and GW Bailey (fromPolice Acamdemt fame) as extra characters. Tom Selleck was always on asthe hero with a fear of heights.It was an interesting and weird tale of the future with robotic bulletsand robots running amuck, but the fun was very average during the wholefilm, with little more than corny little jumping and exploding robotsto remember. And what is up with all the sparks at the end credits? Arethere welders above them repairing an important job or what?Whatever...interesting to see.

2012-05-05 10:26:10

Runaway DVD

This review is from: Runaway (DVD) I was so excited when I was finally able to find Runaway with Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons. My kids did not believe that there was a movie with Gene Simmons in as the bad guy. When I saw that you had this DVD I couldn't resist ordering it. It was just as I remembered it when I first saw it in 1984. My kids thoroughly enjoyed it as did I and they were blown away with the mechanical spiders. I would recommend ths movie to anyone who is a Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons fan. I guarantee you won't be disappointed. Thank you!!!

2012-05-01 21:18:42

Runaway

Tom Selleck is great in this scifi thriller. Gene Simmons is very good as the evil bad guy.

chets808 2012-05-01 03:03:02

Cops. Robots. Gene Simmons. A surefire win !

SPOILER AHEAD. "Ms. Shields, you're broadcasting on an electromagnetic frequency thatthe robot reads."Its terrific techno-babble punking like this that makes this movieendlessly watchable. Let me just say that this isn't a 4 star movie.Unless they give stars for cheese. Its got that enticing Roadhousequality that never gets old. So, if you're still reading this, you knowyou could go to 100 reviews and find plot details and the same-ole rundown on all the fixings; so allow me to offer you my observations.Runaway was made at a time when we were still a bit in awe of thepossible tech-future. This now defunct movie premise allowed forimaginations to run wild and present silly adventures that futuregenerations could pick apart and laugh at (think now). So here we go:1. Why is there a special police force to chase down robots run amok ?Something tells me it wouldn't be a tough talking take no prisonersmacho man like our good friend Ramsay. The first assignment is SOurgent, it requires our team to fly to the site in a helicopter so theycan flip a switch on a caterpillar catcher. Um…OK. Great ! You've saveddozens of corn stalks !2. Ramsay's partner, Karen, as a cop, wears a skirt and high heels.Just think about the absurdity of chasing down a perp in that get up.3. I love the security guard in the office building who, for someinexplicable reason, knows about everything there is to know abouttheir computer systems, down to the voice modifications on the computersystem (he's not the I.T. guy, he's a security guard), then goes so faras to bust Ramsay's onions on police protocol. Something tells me asecurity guard wouldn't be getting in a cop's grill. I mean…he is thesecurity guard ! Plus, (I know..beating a dead horse), why do they needthat guy, if robots are doing all these kind of jobs in the future ? 4. And while we're on the subject, what kind of future were these guysenvisioning when a robotic office sentry runs through the office with azapping ray gun ? Talk about big brother… 5. Also, notice when Kirstie Alley expires at the restaurant, no onenotices that she is thrown face down in the pool. They just keep eating!? 6. Plus, the scenes between Selleck and his child are cringeworthy. Gene Simmons actually does a good job to not defile himself, however, Iwish just once, during one of his close ups, he would break his ominousstare and stick his freakish tongue way out. Despite all this, it's an enjoyable 90 minutes. Tom Selleck, CynthiaRhodes and the rest do an admirable job in spite of the lame dialogueand foolish direction. The 1990s brought about a heavy dose of cynicismand we partially lost the fun in imagining what the future holds. Thinkabout Escape from New York, the Terminator, Blade Runner, etc. They allasked us to think about the future. When done right, it can be veryentertaining (Minority Report).

Kuratowa 2012-04-28 07:39:32

FX are key

Many of the comments here say that the special effects of this movie arelaughable. On this point I must disagree.This movie is science fiction regarding a very near future where humans userobots in their everyday lives. Looking at the state of robotics today, therobots seen in this film are more likely than any seen in other sciencefiction films (such as Bishop in Aliens or C3PO). This film takes a goodlook at what robotics and its limitations are and portrays its robots in arealistic way that may not suit those inundated with concepts of thetotally, fluid, human like robot.As for the film itself, it is a straightforward story with very littletwists or surprises. Just the story of a cop breaking a case and taking thebad guy down. However, it is enjoyable to watch and I would give it a 7 outof 10.

2012-04-27 19:09:14

runaway one of sellecks better movies

This review is from: Runaway (DVD) great movie with sellick, alley and gene simmons in it kinda a keep you on the edge of your seat thriller

MARIO GAUCI 2012-04-25 11:10:24

RUNAWAY (Michael Crichton, 1984) **

I recall this being released theatrically and even an Italian-TVbroadcast of it some time later; being available for rental on DVDlocally and myself a sci-fi fan, it was inevitable that I’d check itout – even if it doesn’t have much of a reputation within the genre (inspite of writer/director Crichton’s involvement, author of sucheffective yet diverse fare as THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN [1970], WESTWORLD[1973], THE TERMINAL MAN [1974], COMA [1978] and JURASSIC PARK [1993]).This is one of a number of early 1980s sci-fi actioners – includingTRON (1982), BLUE THUNDER (1983), WAR GAMES (1983), THE LASTSTARFIGHTER (1984), etc. – which seemed to promote technology, often atthe expense of narrative and characterization, but which evoketremendous nostalgia for someone who was a kid at the time. Still, thefilm serves as a reminder that cinema was in a definite rut throughoutthe decade – when you had to rely on a T.V. star for the lead (MAGNUMP.I.’s Tom Selleck) and a rockstar for the villain (Gene Simmons,bassist of KISS)! In itself, though, it’s harmless enough and certainlyenjoyable – even if the plot (once all the scientific jargon andgadgetry is by-passed) is pretty routine.The action sequences (plentiful in number) are O.K. if a bit silly –such as the situation where Selleck has to save a hostage infant from asquat gun-toting robot gone amok, Simmons shooting missile-likebullets, a car chase in which the passengers change vehicles in motion(a stunt which has just been replicated in the latest Indiana Jonesadventure!), etc. Plotwise, we get complications in the relationshipbetween widower Selleck and his immediate family (comprising a youngson and a garrulous robot maid!) – which set in with the appearance ofhis new (and naturally female) cop partner; Selleck’s also fraught withvertigo (in the past, this had cost the life of a number of people whenhe backed out of following a suspect because of the heights involved) –a hindrance which is predictably played upon during the climax, wherehe has to take on Simmons’ army of acid-spouting robot spiders in anelevator at a construction site! The film seemed to have its heart in the right place – what withemploying cinematographer John A. Alonzo and composer Jerry Goldsmith(though his contribution results in a shoddy electronic score), both ofwhom had worked on the noir revival par excellence CHINATOWN (1974) –though conditions were hardly as congenial this time around…

2012-04-24 19:27:34

A Creative, Well Scripted Sci-Fi Thriller

You know how mechanical things go awry? Well, in the future, when a robot becomes a "runaway", who do you turn to? Jack Ramsey (Tom Selleck) and his division of the police department.There are great gizmos in this sci-fi story, such as electronic spiders and bullets that have your name on it. Though, dealing with the latter, a newspaper had fun pointing out those bullets were so slow and weak that a restaurant table could provide protection.Michael Crichton did a good job directing it, though he inserted one bit on reincarnation that did not add anything to the story (you should expect a fundamentalist like myself to point that out). Cynthia Rhodes played one of my all time favorite love interests. Gene Simmons started off low key, but by the end of the movie, you could easily picture him with his demonic makeup.I really enjoyed this movie, and would highly recommend it.

moonspinner55 2012-04-22 15:55:33

Constipated sci-fi...

Michael Crichton's writing skills are undeniably gripping, and as amovie director he has occasionally shown a deft sense of pacing;unfortunately for science-fiction fans, Crichton has mainly chosen towaste his craft on piddling, throwaway material like "Runaway", whichis so overloaded with mechanical energy that even Crichton's obviousliterary talent and underrated film-making skills go nearly unnoticed.Tom Selleck (not bad, but looking unhappy and unsure) plays a cop inthe future who hunts down a madman who uses electronics to do hisvictims in. Some sly gadgetry and a hot supporting performance byKirstie Alley (working from next-to-nothing) enlivens an otherwisestiff, silly action-thriller. ** from ****

qttroassi 2012-04-22 02:28:44

futuristic crime/action

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