Sorry, this movie sucks

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

There is a gripping story here, about survival, but this movie transcends the simple plot-- three people caught on a runaway train, and being chased by authorities. I maintain, with conviction, that this movie is a powerful work of art, which could have been even greater if it didn't suffer from two of Hollywood's most deep- rooted and crippling problems.First, Hollywood's tendency to throw writers at projects. Five men are credited with the story and the screenplay, which originated with the Japanese genius, Akira Kurosawa. There is much more dialog than is needed, especially the motor-mouth stuff coming out of Roberts. It's painful to imagine how great the script might have been if Kurosawa's original screenplay had been adapted by one good writer, or had been translated and only lightly edited.Second, a lesser problem, the cast, which is merely competent-- not bad, but not great. (NB: I am aware that Voight won the Golden Globe for this performance.) Jon Voight and Eric Roberts started out as pretty boys, and however roughed up they are for this movie, they're still too pretty. The roles-- two escaped convicts-- called for character actors, but character actors can't "open" a movie. So we get workmanlike performances from two adequate actors. That's not fatal, but it is unfortunate because the movie would have benefited so much from really first-rate actors who don't look like they could have been male models-- John Lithgow, for instance, or Robert Duvall or Andre Braugher instead of Voight, and Sean Penn or Gary Farmer instead of Roberts. In this vein, it's interesting to note that the film marks the debut of two character actors who are almost always cast as thugs, Tiny Lister and Danny Trejo...Nevertheless, in spite of those things (which may not bother everyone), RUNAWAY TRAIN is a powerful lament about the nature of free will, and efforts to claim control over your inherent character, which is your destiny. The arch-criminal Voight has some good lines, and one great one: He tells Roberts to get a job if they make it to freedom, become a janitor, anything, but Roberts demands, then why don't you do that? And Voight replies with all the pith the dialog otherwise lacks, "I wish I could."He can't. It's not in his nature to do what he believes people need to do, and should do, to be happy. The plot is all played out in savage settings-- a maximum security prison, a below-zero winter. The world these men occupy is hard and cold in every way. They have to literally crawl through an active sewer to escape, and when they do, the old four- engine train Voight chooses becomes a hell on wheels. The only way to control it is to get to the front engine, the brain of the runaway train, but there is no path to it. And the pursuit of them by authorities continues, led by the warden, a character who is written, unfortunately, with no nuance: he's vengeful, evil, cruel. Early on, he announces to the prisoners that in their world he is 2nd only to God-- but he is actually more like Death. Either way, when he catches up to the train (by helicopter), he descends from the sky. Voight, lying in wait, takes control of him, thereby finally wresting power into his own hands, demanding control of his own destiny. But the only power left to him (and to us all, on our individual runaway trains) is the power to choose Death. He chooses to risk dying if it will bring even a few moments of freedom in our cold, hard world.

Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, "Runaway Train" is one If the most under rated movies of the 80's.Plot In A Paragraph: Oscar "Manny" Manheim is a "lifer" and hero to the convicts of Stonehaven Maximum Security Prison. After two previous escape attempts the doors to Manny's cell have been welded shut for three years. A court order makes the sadistic Warden Ranken, release him back into the general prison population. Manny immediately breaks out a third time with Buck McGeehy, (Eric Roberts) another convict (convicted of statutory rape) Buck idolizes Manny, but Manny does not care for the company. The two hop on board a train consisting of four locomotives at a remote Alaskan rail yard. Just as the train is set in motion, the elderly engineer suffers a heart attack. Consequently, in trying to stop the train and get off he accidentally makes it impossible to stop the train. Neither of the two convicts is aware of their situation as the Warden sets off in pursuit. Both Jon Voight and Eric Roberts were Oscar nominated for this movie, and were both unlucky not to win, as both were superb. See Roberts when he realises his idol is not who he thought he was, and Voight is fantastic throughoutGolam Globus didn't have many Oscar nominated movies, so this should be remembered more than it is.

Andrei Konchalovsky directed this existentialist prison/action-adventure yarn that stars Jon Voight as popular and hardened prisoner Manny Manheim, who is a fearless fighter, and constant source of trouble for warden Ranken(played by John P. Ryan) who is determined to put Manny away for good. He is also idolized by a young prisoner named Buck(played by Eric Roberts) who is enlisted by Manny in his daring escape attempt, which succeeds, but being that it is winter in Alaska, they will have to find shelter soon, so steal a train that becomes a runaway, as the authorities(led by Ranken) have ordered it switched to a dead end rail line, but that doesn't deter Manny, though the unexpected presence of railway worker Sara(played by Rebecca De Mornay) gives Buck second thoughts, Manny proves to be as unstoppable as the train... Stunning film may not have the most likable of characters, but works quite well indeed as an allegorical account of an out-of-control life heading for disaster. Voight in particular is a stand-out; final scene is haunting(and fitting).

How "Runaway Train" bombed at the box office in December, 1985, I'll never know because it's the perfect blend of blockbuster thrills and weighty subtext.The story involves Manny (Jon Voight), a notorious prison hero, who escapes a maximum security prison in the frozen wastelands of Alaska. He is joined by a naive follower (Eric Roberts). They stow away on a train consisting of four locomotives whose engineer has a heart attack and the train runs away. Meanwhile, the arrogant warden (John P. Ryan) is on the warpath for Manny."Runaway Train" is such a powerful experience because it's much more than just a mindless action flick, as the title would suggest; the thrilling events are actually a stage for a fascinating study of the human condition. Manny is a hardened convict who's "at war with the world and everyone in it." When called an animal he replies, "No, worse -- human!" This is a man who wants one thing, freedom, but he knows that he's too far gone to make it in conventional society. He shares a parable with his dumb partner, made up on the spot, about having a menial job and submitting to the boss even though you might want to rip his throat out. This is the key to making it in society -- submitting to authority and resisting the rage within; and then getting your check on payday and enjoying the fruits thereof. Manny wishes he could do this, but knows he can't. So what hope is there for him in modern society? If he can't do that then why's he escaping prison? In other words, Manny knows there's no hope for him, even if his escape is successful. To him, freedom can only come one way. I don't believe this, but I understand why he believes it.There's another potent scene where Manny has a knife and mercilessly comes against his own "partner". You see the rage on his face, like a cornered animal. After intense emotions are vented Manny suddenly realizes... and then he just bows over, completely spent. A character, who should be afraid of him, somehow understands and compassionately reaches out in a semi-embrace.Powerful scenes like these are combined with surreal images of the misshapen locomotives barreling down the tracks in the freezing wilderness accompanied by the ominous score by Trevor Jones. Some parts of the score scream mid-80s, but other parts -- like the aforementioned -- are timeless.Rebecca De Mornay has an atypical role as a railroad worker who stumbles on to the convicts. She intuitively sees through their macho posturing. Although she knows they're desperate & dangerous, she also sees that they're not wholly evil. Roberts is basically a kid at heart and Manny is just blinded by the incredible rage within. He's only irredeemable because of his stupid pride, built up over years of hardened confinement.Voight is near unrecognizable as Manny and Roberts is just superb as his dumb sidekick. These two along with De Mornay are examples of acting at its finest.John P. Ryan is very effective as the machismo warden Ranken, but his Captain Ahab-like role comes off too comic booky to be plausible. Yet Ranken shows that you can be an "animal" on the outside of prison just as much as on the inside. Both Manny and Ranken are corrupted by pride, but Manny at least knows it. And he's not too far gone to recognize those who are worthy of life and to respond accordingly.The film was shot in Montana and Alaska and runs 111 minutes.GRADE: A+