Best movie of this year hands down!

Let's be realistic.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Indeed a fine piece, from the era when action movies were taken over by the likes of Schwarzenegger or Stallone. But the production company seemed to completely ignore this fact, and have chosen to base their movie on an old Akira Kurosawa screenplay. Risky choice, but as we know it didn't paid off - it was the last Northbrook film, and the Cannon-Golan companies didn't last much longer either. So Runawy Train might have been a financial failure, but I'd call it an artistic success. The technical specs doesn't show that it was shot on some kind of special equipment, but the way they captured the snowy landscape is still a masterpiece. If someone appreciates this kind of detail, it's definitely a must-watch movie (in the digitally renewed version, if possible). Otherwise the story is good too - not as much action, craziness and twists as in other 80s productions, but it has a tasty outcome between the good guy and the bad guy - probably Kurosawa would have done it better, but I really can't blame the directors for every little mistake. The last strong point of this movie is probably the cast, however - some might find Eric Roberts and a few supporting actors a bit irritating sometimes. Anyways, Jon Voight is at his best here. Unfortunately, other aspects of the movie seemed to be rather mediocre - very generic music choices, dull stunts and decorations, strange cuts. But those only play a minor part in the big picture, so I can recommend Runaway Train to anybody, who's just after a little entertainment.

The cinematography is good, the action is fantastic, and the music is excellent but characters and their actions are the weakest part of the movie. Nearly every choice the people make seem like the worst on and motivations seem conflicting and confusing. Manny and his partner are mostly unlikeable and basically insufferable. Manny's choice at the end and the death of the warden are frustrating and feels like an undeserved victory for him.

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.

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).