Runaway (1984)
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After Tom Selleck had to turn down the part of Indiana Jones due to his commitment to "Magnum PI"on CBS, he starred in a steady string of action flicks in the early 80's, searching to breakout as a movie star.
Suffice to say, 1984's RUNAWAY didn't prove to be that vehicle. Written and Directed by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Rising Sun) this is Crichton slumming with a mediocre budget, a paper-thin story and routine characters.
In the near future, (which looks very much like 1984) robots assist us in everyday life on nearly every front.
Selleck is Ramsay, a policeman specializing in robots that go astray and threaten public safety. Cynthia Rhodes (Staying Alive) is his new partner (do you think she will be in danger?) and Joey Cramer is his son Bobby (do you think the bad guy will kidnap him?). There are NO surprises in any of the film's goofy 99 minutes.
When a family is killed by a spider robot gone wild, Selleck's Ramsay manages to save the last remaining member of the family, a baby. It's supposed to be scary and suspenseful, but it plays pretty lame and funny.
When his team inspects the robot, they find a chip that leads to a mad scientist named Luther, played by a very famous rocker.
This was Kiss's Gene Simmons biggest film role and Gene doesn't chew the scenery, he devours it! Every evil line is accompanied by crazy wide eyes and lecherous sneering. I'm surprised he didn't unleash that famous tongue in Tom's direction!
Simmons could have been fun if the film didn't take him so seriously, but he comes off horribly. Cheesy can be a blast, but he is the only one on screen burying the cheese factor off the meter.
Two years after her debut in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", Kirstie Alley stars as Jackie, Luther's girlfriend whose taste in bad boys puts her on the wrong side of Selleck. This isn't a great role for her and completely wastes her serious comic chops. But she's WAY better than Rhodes.
This is a seriously bad flick and all the computer technology looks like its from 1984. Between the brick phones and the giant monitors with single lines of green text, this "future" appears to have taken place a long time ago.
You have to give the film a bit of credit for predicting social media, the internet and creating a pretty cool tracking bullet that chases its target like a mini-guided missile. Too little too late though.
Along with "Looker" from the same era, this is Crichton's worst work. He certainly recovered beautifully later, but this ridiculous mess was a low point.
Don't stay tune for the end credits, during which Selleck and Rhodes make out for the entire duration.
Too bad there weren't one more of those jittery metal spiders left to interrupt them!
Michael Crichton wrote and directed some great films in the seventies, sci-fi thrillers that still hold up today like "Coma" and "Westworld"and this was his last sci-fi film he directed.
Sadly, it's one of his worst. Surprisingly low tech crap and overacting drags this into a robot scrapheap, lumbering to an F.
It's an all-time turkey!
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