Dear Andrey Konchalovskiy, you directed one of the most unique prison escape action movies of all time. This is what every action film should aspire to be. Here are a few things that made this film unique: The dialogues - were a mix of tough working class street lingo and some really intellectual stuff. I guess Edward Bunker had something to do with the way the dialogues were written. I wish he had written more movies. The performances - nearly every single actor is over the top. I think the performances in this film might have influenced the likes of Rob Zombie and his cast in The Devil's Rejects. It is cheesy at places. But very original too. I wonder how you instructed the actors on the sets.The background score - a rollicking background score during the initial action scenes but a more gloomy tune is used repeatedly as the film nears its end. It captures the shift in the film's tone from an exciting action flick to a statement on human nature. The editing - it must have been a tough film to edit. I liked the constant use of point of view shots from the destroyed front portion of the train. The quick cuts of tracking shots helped to emphasize the speed at which the train was traveling. The ending - when Voight kills himself and the cruel warden who relentlessly hunts him, it is almost like he is purging the world of two very hateful beings. It is not an ending one would expect in a horror film.John Voight might have acted in two of the best survival flicks of all time - Deliverance and Runaway Train. Good job, Andrey.Best Regards, Pimpin.(8/10)

I remember have seen this as a child home with my dad and now it's out on Blu-Ray it was finally time to pick it up again. And seeing it again it's a cult classic. The acting is sublime and yes I know I'm not into Eric Roberts but here he's excellent. Being shot without almost any effects that is what makes this flick a must see even as we know that a helicopter crashed while filming it at Alaska and the distribution was terrible. What starts out as a flick at a maximum security turns after 45 minutes in a pure action flick. And towards the end it goes into pure characterisation.Notice the appearance in the fight ring of Danny Trejo, his first flick. It became a difficult flick to make, not only directors changed a lot and it's know that Roberts was very difficult to work with. But that made out into the flick and he was nominated for his acting. Funny that Jodie Foster wanted to be part in this flick for the role of Sara, but the director found her to pretty and beautiful for this part. If you wanna see one of the better flicks from the Cannon group this is it. Classic indeed.Gore 0,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

The next time I criticise an action movie for being brainless, only to be met by the response of "well, it is an action movie!", I'll refer them to Runaway Train, a breathless, thoroughly exciting action movie that manages to portray two fully three-dimensional characters amidst underlying sociological messages about imprisonment and reform. Developed from an un-filmed Akira Kurosawa script by Djordje Milicevic, Paul Zindel, and former hardened inmate Eddie Bunker, Runaway Train proves that action movies can do a hell of a lot more than blow s**t up and offer amusing one-liners.Notorious convict Manny (Jon Voight) is released from three years in confinement by hateful warden Ranken (John P. Ryan) not just because of media pressure, but in the hope that he will try and escape so Barstow may kill him. After he is attacked and wounded, Manny makes the quick decision to escape his Alaskan confines, and does so with the help of the young and rather dumb Buck (Eric Roberts). They board a train, but unbeknown to them the engineer on board has died from a heart attack and the train is heading at high speed towards various obstacles. Ground-staff are alerted to the situation and quickly set about clearing the tracks, but Ranken has soon joined them with revenge in mind.Many Hollywood movies offer moments of spectacular visual effects and sound design that should be applauded, but normally these scenes don't tend to generate any excitement in me. Runaway Train offers similar scenes, but there's two key aspects that make the film work so well. The first is emotional investment. As despicable as these characters often are, Manny and Buck are real, helped considerably by the career-best performances of Voight and Roberts. The former, in an empowering speech that may just be the best work he's ever done, informs Buck of the futility of their situation. They may just rule the world if they could hold down a job, but they can't, they're criminals, and cannot escape their societal role.The appearance of Rebecca De Mornay's character Sara, a young engineer still aboard and who is unable to stop the train, highlights this. Manny and Buck squabble and fight for the first time in front of her, showing that when put into a situation where the laws of society come into play, they reject it and turn into animals. These exchanges occur between some nail-biting scenes, which brings me onto the next aspect that makes the film work so well - real action. There's no wide-shots of gigantic explosions, just two battered men clawing and slipping their way along the snow-drenched train. In one scene, after a daring attempt to jump carriages, Manny's wind and cold-battered face craws towards the camera, ragged bandages hang off his bloodied hand, and his crooked, brown teeth are bared. The camera is so intrusive that you really feel every move he makes, to the point where I felt exhausted.Though it does occasionally slip in prison movie cliché, this is perhaps one of the most underrated films ever made. It was recognised at the Oscars with nominations for Voight, Roberts and for Best Editing, but it doesn't seem to have left the legacy it certainly deserves. I wouldn't exactly call the film obscure, but your average film-goer probably won't have heard of it, especially when compared to, say, Die Hard (1988). This is riveting stuff, tightly directed by Russian Andrei Konchalovsky (who went on to make the crappy Tango & Cash (1989)), and the film leaves you with an beautiful and slightly eerie final image that could say more than words could have.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

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).