BTW I should explain something else before I go on, If you notice I started this blog more or less in the '30s and now this movie is from the '80s. I tend to cycle through what I have and go chronologically. The way it looks right now the next cycle will end in 1980.
And now for our Feature Presentation.....
Runaway (1984)
Plot Summary
In the near future, a police officer specializes 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... and his son becomes a target.
I've always been a fan of Tom Selleck and i'm not quite sure why he never had a bigger impact on the Silver Screen. He has a natural easy going charisma that makes him a likeable presence on the screen but I think what doomed him from being a major film star is that he didn't quite have the gravitas needed for action or drama films. There just seemed to be something missing. As a comedic actor he excelled though. That's not to say Selleck didn't have a very good career because he has with Magnum P.I., his memorable role in Friends, his Western TV movies and of course the CBS drama Blue Bloods currently on the air. Just as an aside, this will show how goofy of a kid I was but I sometimes mistook Selleck for Burt Reynolds LOL!
Ahem, anywho this movie was a bit ahead of its time with the automated society and having robots/machines doing the heavy and dangerous work. There's even a police division that handles cases of "runaways", basically robots that have malfunctioned. Selleck and his new partner Cynthia Rhodes (she didn't have much of a career but she played Penny in Dirty Dancing) start off the film working some of these cases and you get a flavor for what exactly they do. This actually sets the mood pretty well for the film and the "big" case ends up being a robot that has murdered a family except the father and a little baby who's stuck in the house.
The director (Michael Crichton) not so subtly makes a commentary on the media in this segment as there's a reporter and her camera man there reporting the scene and making life difficult for Selleck. They try to get a peek inside the house via use of a "floater" (think floating camera but larger) but the rogue robot shoots it down to kingdom come so Selleck decides to go in for himself. The reporter starts badgering him about it and he more or less tells her off by reminding her that the robot can tap into the feed and knows what's going on if she continues to report what they're going to do. Of course said reporter stupidly has her cameraman go in with Selleck and he promptly gets killed for his trouble.
There was far more to this case than meets the eye though as the father happens to be an electronics guy who is freaking out over his boss for some reason. This leads to Selleck, Rhodes and one of the other officers (played by Stan Shaw) to figure out what's going on. The gist of it? Turns out the guy is working for KISS lead man Gene Simmons who's a rich, homicidal A-hole who's selling electronics chips that will cause machines to go into murderous rampages.
So that's the basic setup there. Kirstie Alley has a small but important role in the film. She was pretty good in it as the secretary who has something that Simmons wants. (basically the schematics for the chips) Simmons almost gets it but he's thwarted by Selleck which prompts him to kidnap Selleck's kid in order to get it. Ah, Selleck's kid.....The kid was annoying as hell but at least it allowed us to see Selleck's personal robot maid Lois. The back and forth patter between he and the robot made for some of the more charming scenes in the film.
There's another familiar acting face in the film in the form of G.W. Bailey (Harris in the Police Academy films) as the tough talking, foul mouthed police chief. There's one great scene in the hallway of a hotel where Rhodes had been shot by Simmons and Bailey chews Selleck out to which Selleck explains everything then stops them from getting the bullet out as it's not really a bullet but a guided mini missile that would explode if not properly taken out and he does the job.
Yes, Simmons has a gun of his own manufacture that shoots out a heat seeking guided missile. It's actually pretty neat and Crichton uses a neat POV shot from the missile's perspective in an alleyway when Simmons goes to kill the father from the earlier Runaway case. Simmons also has "spiders" little spider like robots that jump up and shoot acid into the neck/body of victims.
Now this leads into not exactly a plot hole but a logic hole that almost took me out of this movie. So basically Simmons is a bad dude with a criminal record as long as his arm. Yes he's rich but I can't see anyone like that being able to create a well established electronics/robotics company and be able to get away with a rogue killer robot program. Crichton does try to patch this up in the script as Simmons can hack into camera and computer systems but again this just makes Simmons who is an out and out thug look smarter than he has any right to be. That being said, I thought that Simmons did a pretty good job in this though I wouldn't necessarily call what he did acting as he naturally has a scowl on his face and it's pretty easy for him to have a pissed off demeanor.
One last thing, I did like the foreshadowing from early in the film with Selleck's fear of heights which pays off very well in the film's climax. Usually in films small things like that are established and then it never quite pays off in the end but it does so beautifully here.
So this is a pretty good flick and i'd recommend it. Some of the special effects are a bit dated and cheesy. The robots especially so but it was a solid movie ripe for a more jaded/cynical remake. I give this ** 1/2 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment