Can you imagine an existential action film written by Akira Kurosawa and directed by Andrei Konchalovsky? Neither could I until I watched it for myself about 20 years ago. I've seen it several times since then, but never in a movie theater until last night, and while it's a great film in any context it was clearly meant to be experienced on the big screen; my knuckles were literally white even though I knew everything that was coming.
The performances in Runaway Train are nearly all pitch-perfect, and Jon Voight in particular is like a force of nature as Manny. I wanted to share the best exchange in the film with you:
Sara: You think you can sacrifice someone else's life instead of your own! You're an animal!
Manny: No! Worse. Human. Human!
It's filled with truths like that, spoken and unspoken. This is one of the most stark, uncompromising, haunting films I've ever seen—so immediate that you feel like you live it rather than just watching it. If you've never seen it, you owe it to yourself.
(One of the most surprising things to me about Runaway Train was that it was produced by none other than Golan-Globus, who were otherwise responsible for some of the most egregious dreck of the 1980s. How the same team that made Cyborg and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo managed to produce a film of this caliber is one of life's eternal mysteries. Then again, I can forgive them a lot for having put Mathilda May on the screen buck naked for, oh, nearly two hours in Lifeforce.)
On your recommendation, I will watch this film.
Posted by: Save the Oocytes | Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 09:34 PM
Wow! I can't believe somebody else knows this film! I remember when I first saw it in college-- expecting yet another piece of B-movie dreck. It blew my mind. Was one of those films that hit me right in that time where you first start thinking deeply about mortality and what gives your own existence any meaning, and it helped those gears churn a bit further.
Now, fair warning to any who rent it-- it's not B-movie dreck, it's B-movie glory... but it's still B-movie. If you go in with incredibly high expectations, expecting a "Kurosawa film", and you may be disappointed. I recommended it to a friend on that basis, and he certainly was. So just watch it with no expectations, for the fun factor (I mean, it's Eric Roberts, for crying out loud), and then, let your mind get blown.
Posted by: Quin | Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 10:19 PM
Glad to hear I'm not the only one too, Quin.
...it's B-movie glory... but it's still B-movie.
I can go for that, though I actually think of it as an A movie disguised as a B movie. But your warning about expectations (which I've no doubt raised pretty high) is a good one—for all films, really. In the case of Runaway Train, it's best to just watch it as a great action film and be surprised when you realize it's much more.
StO: And I picked up A Tale of Two Sisters at the library on your recommendation (which was actually more like your non-recommendation as I recall, but I've looked at it many times and the library's price is right...).
Posted by: John Caruso | Sunday, March 29, 2009 at 01:18 AM
John, tell me how long it takes you to figure out what actually happened after watching it—I cheated and looked it up on Wikipedia.
Posted by: Save the Oocytes | Sunday, March 29, 2009 at 01:54 PM
I know Runaway Train too, but haven't watched it since the 80s. My then-boyfriend and I found some campy lines in it. Quoting from memory: "Aw, that warn't no rape, that was statustory rape. 'Cause she was fifteen, an' I was o'der." "Thass good." "Thass good", imitating Voight's delivery, became one of our catchphrases. We also liked the rant about "You'll get a little job, the kind of job a convict can get...." The BF recast it as Nietzsche berating Schopenhauer (... the kind of job a philosopher can get...).
I didn't mind the quick glimpse of a buck-nekkid Jon Voight near the beginning, either.
I'll be interested in hearing what you think of A Tale of Two Sisters as well, John.
Posted by: Duncan | Sunday, March 29, 2009 at 07:29 PM
I love this movie--lives in my memory. What has happened to Jon Voight, after this and "Coming HOme"? And, he begat Jolie! (sorry if you LOVE her)
You keep thinking, oh, its hollywood, they'll "pull thru" in some bs manner--but they dont! So its kindve real.
Posted by: KDelphi | Monday, March 30, 2009 at 11:52 AM
...tell me how long it takes you to figure out what actually happened...
I'm not sure if the question makes sense, because it implies that there's a single something that actually happened. I'm not sure if even the director had a single interpretation in mind for everything in the film (based on listening to some of the commentary afterward).
If you're talking about the Su-Mi-is-the-stepmother bit, though, I definitely didn't get that. There's the one scene where they change into one another, of course, but I thought that could just be their mutual identification or what have you blah blah handwave. And someone pointed out that they were the only two who could see the sister, but I thought that might just be because they were both connected to her death.
In any case, it was certainly intriguing as it was going on. And having been exposed to plenty of Asian horror I wasn't expecting every scene to make sense. In my experience Asian directors often place style over logic; if a scene achieves a certain mood or look, that's good enough, whether or not it makes sense in terms of the plot. So I was content to take the creepiness for its own sake, and enjoy the excellent cinematography and direction.
Posted by: John Caruso | Wednesday, April 01, 2009 at 12:59 AM
I'm not sharp enough to recognize good direction if I see it. It was definitely interesting, but I guess I didn't think it stood out enough for me to recommend it to you. Since you seemed to like it a lot, though, I'm glad you saw it.
Posted by: Save the Oocytes | Sunday, April 05, 2009 at 12:54 AM
Quin & John,it does my heart good to see that there are other Runaway Train fans out there. I thought I was the only one! No one has heard of it! I had the VHS tape years ago, but lost it or gave it away or something. Now I have to watch it on YouTube. All sorts of questions I have: What's with "The Yellow Rose of Texas"? Why THAT song? Is there some hidden meaning? Has anyone ever been welded into a cell like Manny? Do convicts ever really hero-worship a fellow con like they did Manny? When the train first started, couldn't someone have run after it (it hadn't really gotten up a good speed at that point), hopped on board, and stopped it? (Of course, then there would be no movie!) Is it possible to visit the locations where the movie was filmed? Was it a stuntman riding on the locomotive at the end of the movie, or was it Jon Voight?
And oh, yeah, Duncan, I didn't mind the glimpse of a nude Jon Voight either!
Cathy
Posted by: Cathy | Thursday, September 01, 2011 at 11:12 PM