I love it when I sit down to watch a movie that I know almost nothing about, and end up riveted by the story that unfolds. It is a really magical experience. Sitting to watch “Runaway Train” all I knew about it was that it starred Jon Voight, Eric Roberts and Rebecca Demornay (three actors I usually enjoy), it has a good Rotten Tomatoes score and that it was a prison break movie. Let the magic begin!
Unfortunately, this was not one of
those magic moments....
Voight plays Manny Manheim, a career
criminal with a history of prison escapes, and Roberts is one of his
many prison-yard admirers. When Voight escapes from the prison (set deep
in Alaska, and run by a sadistic warden), Roberts is drawn along for
the ride. They make their way to a freight train station where they
stow away, but the engineer, after engaging the engine, dies of a
heart attack leaving them on a runaway. The only remaining questions
are will they survive and will they be caught.
Now I love a good “suspension of
disbelief” film as much as the next guy, but this movie takes it
beyond the extreme. Voight's performance is a ridiculous caricature
of a long-time prison inmate. He has shown in the past he can be astoundingly bad (see “Anaconda”) but this was something any
rookie actor could have improved on. Similarly Roberts's smarmy performance makes
his turn in “Star 80” look like the best of Brando. They are both awful,
just horrendous. Almost as bad is John P. Ryan as the warden, though
the biggest problem I have with his character is his plain and
in-your-face evil. His crazier-than-crazy risk of his life toward in
the end in an effort to catch the escapees will leave you holding
your head. NOBODY would ever do anything so stupid. But clearly having characters that act in any way like real people was not the filmmaker's objective here.
I am not sure why this movie has such a
good rating among critics – it is absolutely awful. The production
values aren't bad, the direction and cinematography are acceptable,
but the plot and acting are so outlandishly bad that it ends up a
complete waste of time. Avoid at all costs.
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