vondoba A visually beautiful, emotionally wrenching film, based on a screenplay by the great Akira Kurosawa. Some minor flaws necessitate the 2-star dock (8 out of a possible 10 awarded), but this is a film worth seeing. Jon Voight offers here perhaps his most powerful and impassioned role ever, playing a brutal and amoral convict on the escape from a maximum security prison. At points the plot stretches credulity, and the film offers some frequently stilted dialogue: forced and awkward, and too stereo-typically prison-convict-vulgarized--- but hey, maybe that's what the director wanted. It's a fantasy allegory, not a history film. Runaway Train, set on board a runaway locomotive in deeply frozen winter Alaska, partakes of a fantastically raw human and elemental energy. With Rebecca De Mornay, Eric Roberts and John P. Ryan.

OneEightNine Media So this was on TV and I thought, why the heck not watch a movie with Eric Roberts in it. I needed a good laugh, right? But what I got was a solid adventure/escape thriller with poetic undertones. Honestly, I have no idea how to describe it. It is one of those films that will mean something different to different people. Wonder why this movie is so good? Then go check out the person who wrote the screenplay and trip out on that fact, you film school snobs! Just to summarize the flick, and I am summarizing it as basic as hell. It is about 2 convicts who escape from jail and find themselves on a runaway train. Just add in a bunch of hidden symbolism in the dialogue and set pieces, and you got yourself an entertaining movie. That's about as much as you should know about the movie because knowing too much could rob you of the most optimum filmgoing experience. After watching the movie, you will find yourself reflecting on it and pondering stuff about yourself, humanity and trains... and Eric Roberts.

FilmCriticLalitRao Runaway Train is the true example of what can be termed as the best case of "International collaboration" in the field of cinema. As an American film directed by a Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky with a principal cast of American actors, it was shot in Canada based on a screenplay written by Akira Kurosawa, a renowned Japanese cinema author. Escape films can make their own specialized genre but for "Runaway Train" there is no ordinary escape in sight. Director Konchalovsky depicts the primacy of mind over body. The major highlight of this film is the manner in which many 'spectacular action' scenes have been shot. They give viewers an idea about the suffering experienced by prisoners in a high security American gaol. These scenes are so authentically genuine that they have all the strength to put contemporary CG films to shame. A sense of claustrophobia is developed when this film's three protagonists are left to fend for themselves on a train without a director. What is important for viewers is to watch how this challenge is experienced both inside and outside of the train by key stakeholders ? Lastly, 'Runaway Train' is the perfect film for any viewers who is interested in watching an intelligent action film.

moosekarloff-995-802123 Just watched this piece of dreck on one of the movie channels of The Vast Wasteland and was appalled at how truly bad it was. Glad that I didn't actually spend money to see this disaster in a theater.Implausible idea, weak and cartoonish script and dreadful acting (especially by hopelessly miscast Jon Voight). The only performer who put in a somewhat convincing role was Eric Roberts. Numerous situations were ridiculous and unlikely. Entire scenes that added nothing worthwhile to the narrative should have been left on the cutting room floor. Although this is supposed to be a thriller, there was surprisingly little suspense, just quite a bit of predictable going through the motions.I have to wonder who goes in for such mindless, contrived and amateurish fare. Filmic stupidity. There was absolutely no value in this turkey.