Wonderful character development!

Better Late Then Never

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Other than winning the trophy for the longest, drawn out, tensionless standoff in world history, this movie was actually quite dumb...Sorry if that offends your sensibilities, but literally this was the dumbest, supposedly scifi, movie I have seen in my life...and I'm 70 years old, thank you...There is no suspense to speak of, and Selleck definitely meanders through his scenes, like he is waiting for the pain to end...

In the near future, robots are everywhere and malfunctioning robots are called Runaways. Sgt. Jack Ramsay (Tom Selleck) leads a specialized police squad which handles such incidents. New recruit Karen Thompson (Cynthia Rhodes) is his new partner. As they investigate a robot homicide, Ramsay discovers non-standard circuitry in the robot. They go up against Dr. Charles Luther (Gene Simmons) with his killer spider robots and guided bullets. The investigation leads to Vectrocon where executive secretary Jackie Rogers (Kirstie Alley) is cornered by a robot.It's been over 30 years since I first saw this movie. I remember liking it but not loving it. After seeing it again recently, some new holes appear along with the old remembered holes. First, it makes little sense that city cops would go out into the country to catch agricultural robots. It didn't really occur to me back then. There are some good ideas from Michael Crichton. He tries his best for advanced robots but this movie needed CGI effects. The robots don't scream needing specialized cops. They need mechanics. It would make more sense for a movie like iRobot and that needs a leap in movie effects. This is more or less a cop movie. Selleck is perfectly capable of playing a cop and Gene Simmons has functional menace. That part mostly works. It has some slow sections and Crichton as a director has his limitations. Also, some humor wouldn't hurt. This movie is before its time and falters sometimes due to it.

In the near future, a police officer specialises in malfunctioning robots. When a robot turns out to have been programmed to kill, he begins to uncover a homicidal plot to create killer robots..magnum P.I, turns all sci-fi in this really easy to like, and also really easy to hate, from the great cinema year that was 1984.The thing is, I was sold by this movie, the minute I saw the poster, and because I am fanatical about all things eighties, it did exactly what I expected.It's way outdated, and most sci-fi movies that were set in the future, made in the eighties, are all out dated now, but hey ho, you can't win them all.Selleck is as good as always in these types of film, and it's great to see Magnum drop the F-bomb, as you can tell that he relishes saying it.Simmons is okay as the villain, but as always, gives away too much exposition come the final showdown.Storywise, it's nothing to write home about, someone wants to be greedy and won't let anyone in their way blah blah blah, but when you have a gun that fires heat seeking bullets, and have robotic spiders that spit acid, plot doesn't really matter.The film will infuriate some, but those who love the retro style of eighties sci-fi, will lap this up.

(www.plasticpals.com) The Terminator wasn't the only killer robot in theaters back in 1984 thanks to Runaway, written and directed by the late Michael Crichton. The mustachioed Tom Selleck stars as a cop who specializes in neutralizing bots gone bad in a near-future where they've infiltrated nearly every aspect of life. These aren't the replicants of Blade Runner, but plausible machines that are fun to compare with what exists today. This was another late-night Netflix pick, and to be honest I feel a little dirty for mentioning such sci-fi classics in my review of this film (it turns out Crichton was better behind a writing desk than a film camera).What we're really interested in are the robots of course, and the film doesn't disappoint. There's an irritating nanny robot called Lois, a security robot that tasers anything that moves, a small monocopter used for reconnaissance, as well as farming and construction robots. An autonomous cop car has a mannequin in the driver's seat and projects a map directly onto the windshield. Among the highlights is a small household robot that looks something like a Roomba with an arm, which ends up killing several people when it picks up and shoots a gun. Best of all are the killer hexapods that can jump and crawl on walls like a mixture between this locust-inspired hopper and Stanford's gecko-inspired StickyBot.It's comedy gold.The hexapods are supposed to be threatening, but they look like hobby kits you can buy today, which really cracked me up. There is some attempt to depict non-robotic technology of the future as well, such as the iPad-like devices that people are shown using, but otherwise everything looks pretty ordinary for the '80s.It all looks very silly, and it doesn't help that Gene Simmons is the central villain. He's armed with a gun that shoots smart missiles that can turn corners. It's hard to believe such a celebrated author penned this film, what with the immediate and clichéd romance between Selleck and his cute new partner, not to mention his son's creepy enthusiasm for it. As for the technological side of things, the ideas actually aren't all that far-fetched. There's genuinely something to a PR2-like robot picking up a gun and shooting people if tampered with by a hacker, for instance.Unfortunately, even if some bits can be considered ahead of their time, it's hard to take seriously with the ham-fisted acting and cringe-worthy plot. Runaway wasn't intended to be a comedy, but like many films that try to predict the near future it's now entertaining for all the wrong reasons. It's the details the film gets right and horribly wrong, at the same time, that make it fun to watch.