Runaway Train (1985) Review

"You're an animal!"
-Sara

"No, worse!  Human."
-Manny



Runaway Train follows two convicts, Manny (Jon Voight) and Buck (Eric Roberts), who manage to escape from prison in Alaska.  They make their way to a railyard and climb onboard a train.  Unfortunately, the train's engineer suffers a heart attack and dies, leaving the convicts stuck on board out-of-control train.  But even if they can stop the train before it crashes, the prison's warden (John P. Ryan) is hot on their trail, and has a grudge against Manny, who has no intention of being taken alive.


What Works:

Runaway Train has some really incredible stunts.  I have no idea how they managed to pull some of them off.  The movie has characters swimming in a icy river, dangling from helicopters, climbing on the outside of a train, and climbing UNDERNEATH THE TRAIN.  The stunts really are impressive and this movie deserves more recognition for what they managed to pull off.

The cinematography is very striking.  There are some very impressive and beautiful shots of the train zooming through the Alaskan wilderness.  The angles that they get for some of these shots seem extremely dangerous, and it's remarkable they were able to get some of them.  On a technical level, this movie is very impressive.

Finally, I totally get why Jon Voight was nominated for a Academy Award for his role as Manny.  At first, I thought his character was a cartoonish brute, but he's actually a very complex character.  He's a terrible person, and he knows it, and he's not proud of it.  Buck looks up to him like a hero, and Manny shuts that down and tries to convince Buck to get on the straight-and-narrow, even though Manny himself could never do it.  Voight brings a lot of energy to the role and as the movie goes on, his performance gets more and more powerful.


What Sucks:

Some of the supporting actors aren't great, but my main issue is Eric Roberts.  His acting isn't bad, but the character of Buck is really annoying.  The guy never shuts up and it gets pretty insufferable.  He's got two really good scenes; one where Manny tries to get Buck to sort his life out, and one where he realizes that Manny is not someone he should idolize.  Both scenes are good, but the rest of the time I just want Buck to shut up.  I am surprised he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.  Must have been a week field that year.


Verdict:

Runaway Train is a very fun movie that deserves more recognition.  The stunts and the camerawork are simply incredible.  And Jon Voight gives one hell of a performance.  There is some weak acting and Eric Roberts is annoying, but this movie certainly has got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good 




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