The Running Man – Blu-ray Disc Review

February 9, 2010 – 1:27 AM - Posted by: Ben Piper

Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Erland van Lidth, Jesse Ventura, Jim Brown, Lionsgate, Maria Conchita Alonso, Paul Michael Glaser, Stephen King, Yaphet Kotto

has an average rating of 6.4 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 25gb disc
DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio
are DVD ports but still worthwhile
–
– 1987
– 101 minutes
– Lionsgate
–
This uses 22.9GB for the movie out of 26.2GB total.
Street Date: February 9th, 2010

Overall Verdict – Fans Will Be Pleased

Buy it for $11.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Ben Piper —

Trailer:

The Movie Itself is directed by Paul Michael Glaser and based on the Stephen King (as Richard Bachman) novel of the same name.

Let me lay this out for you: It is 2019 and America is run by a totalitarian government. Television and media is censored and most social activity is monitored. The main outlet for the American public is a sadistic government sponsored television show called The Running Man. Wherein convicts called “runners” are hunted by a unique cast of gladiator type killers called “stalkers.” Stalkers are, who are a mix of WWF character, American Gladiator, and psychopath are loved by the public for their brutality and prowess in the killing field. They also have amazing names and costumes. In an attempt for a ratings boost the show’s host, Damon Killian (Richard Dawson) finds and brings in ex-military pilot Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who was framed for massacring an unarmed town and has recently escaped from prison. I don’t want to give too much away so I’ll just say that this was a bad decision on Killian’s part. Reynolds with the help of his friends (and a possible love interest) manages to kill his way through the stalkers and expose the show as the hoax it really is.

This is personally one of my favorite Schwarzenegger movies. This film is a fun mix of ridiculous action, ridiculous Arnie one-liners, ridiculous 80s fashion mixed in a futuristic setting, and an interesting perspective on what happens when government forces reality television on an overly desensitized society. And there’s a love story somewhere in there! If you enjoy any of these things you should definitely check it out.

Video Quality on this release is 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-25‘s (25 gigabyte single layer Blu-ray Disc) presented in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio.

I was pretty excited to see this film in HD since I have only seen it on VHS and television. Fans of the film should be happy with the quality of this transfer. As can be expected the picture is a little soft and brighter scenes appear quite grainy. Luckily the majority of the movie is fairly dark. Despite these points the blacks are solid and color saturation is decent. I was happy with the crispness of this transfer and think a “3 Star Rating” will be fitting.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the audio presentation of this film. They did a great job on the 7.1 mix. The first thing you’ll notice along with the awesome 80s synth theme. One of the best effects both visually and aurally is when the runners are shot through a tube on some sort of rocket luge. The surround for this sequence is excellent as you almost feel that you are the one moving through the tube. The LFE on the audio track is infrequent, but when used you can feel the kick. Overall I give the audio a “4 Star Rating.”

Bonus Materials on this release are presented in Standard Definition video, using Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo.

• Audio commentary by Director Paul Michael Glaser and Producer Tim Zinnemann
• Audio commentary by Executive Producer Rob Cohen
• “Lockdown on Main Street” Featurette (23:00) Interesting piece on the post 9/11 Patriot Act in the United States
• “Game Theory” Featurette (19:00) Examination of reality shows and the effect they have on society. Features Paul Michael Glaser and Matt Kunitz (Executive Producer of The Real World and Fear Factor).

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

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