Runaway (1984)

People just don't realize how far practical and visual effects have come until they see a movie like this. Tom Select plays a cop who has to hunt down rogue robots with killing tendencies. These 'robots' are nothing more than glorified trash cans on wheels with some pathetic arm or tentacle sticking out. So no terminator-like adversaries. So to compensate they've got Gene Simmons as the bad guy, sure he looks evil/sinister, but that is his normal expression (he's got only one). He's assisted by some very toy like robotic spiders, who 'jump' on people, but in reality they just throw them on the actors who have to hold them to keep from falling of. It don't even want to know how many takes they had to do for every shot coz they must have all be rolling on the floor laughing each time they yelled 'cut'. Easily one of the most cheesy and ridiculous 'scifi' films of the eighties or even of all time.

Tom Selleck, Gene Simmons and Cynthia Rhodes star in this 1984 sci-fi film. A cop must stop a madman and his killer robots. Jack Ramsay (Selleck) is a veteran cop who works a robotics shift and has a son. He meets his new partner, Karen Thompson (Rhodes) and shows her the ropes. They begin hunting runaway robots discovering they're created by madman, Charles Luther (Simmons) that begin killing people. Jack stops at nothing to hunt Luther which becomes a deadly game of cat and mouse. I've always liked this film and Gene is a great villain. I also like Jerry Goldsmith's excellent score and recommend this good, underrated 80's sci-fi flick.

There are a few key details to this flick that should have simply made it better than what it was. Instead it was completely forgettable with a slow story that often feels slapped together. The problem is there is just far too many, much better 80's sci-fi flicks with similar stories. I watched the film because I do really like Tom Selleck and I like sci-fi films and had never heard of this so I gave it a chance but unfortunately it is truly forgettable and even as I write this I can't really remember a lot about it. The film was much lower budget than most films of its type so the special effects were poor.Tom Selleck was and is a big enough star to carry a film but his heart doesn't feel like its in this. His character is empty and just not very fun. Cynthia Rhodes, and Kirstie Alley are decent in their supporting roles but aren't give a lot of depth either. Gene Simmons is just bizarre in his role, his acting debut but he doesn't do a bad job either.If Runaway suffers from anything its being mundane. Perhaps the biggest surprise in all this is director and writer, the one and only Michael Crichton, who is one of the most brilliant adventure writers having done plenty of sci-fi but this one just didn't translate well. Perhaps it was the lack of budget or maybe just a substandard effort on all their parts but this one is completely forgettable and completely missable in every way. 4/10

(www.plasticpals.com) The Terminator wasn't the only killer robot in theaters back in 1984 thanks to Runaway, written and directed by the late Michael Crichton. The mustachioed Tom Selleck stars as a cop who specializes in neutralizing bots gone bad in a near-future where they've infiltrated nearly every aspect of life. These aren't the replicants of Blade Runner, but plausible machines that are fun to compare with what exists today. This was another late-night Netflix pick, and to be honest I feel a little dirty for mentioning such sci-fi classics in my review of this film (it turns out Crichton was better behind a writing desk than a film camera).What we're really interested in are the robots of course, and the film doesn't disappoint. There's an irritating nanny robot called Lois, a security robot that tasers anything that moves, a small monocopter used for reconnaissance, as well as farming and construction robots. An autonomous cop car has a mannequin in the driver's seat and projects a map directly onto the windshield. Among the highlights is a small household robot that looks something like a Roomba with an arm, which ends up killing several people when it picks up and shoots a gun. Best of all are the killer hexapods that can jump and crawl on walls like a mixture between this locust-inspired hopper and Stanford's gecko-inspired StickyBot.It's comedy gold.The hexapods are supposed to be threatening, but they look like hobby kits you can buy today, which really cracked me up. There is some attempt to depict non-robotic technology of the future as well, such as the iPad-like devices that people are shown using, but otherwise everything looks pretty ordinary for the '80s.It all looks very silly, and it doesn't help that Gene Simmons is the central villain. He's armed with a gun that shoots smart missiles that can turn corners. It's hard to believe such a celebrated author penned this film, what with the immediate and clichéd romance between Selleck and his cute new partner, not to mention his son's creepy enthusiasm for it. As for the technological side of things, the ideas actually aren't all that far-fetched. There's genuinely something to a PR2-like robot picking up a gun and shooting people if tampered with by a hacker, for instance.Unfortunately, even if some bits can be considered ahead of their time, it's hard to take seriously with the ham-fisted acting and cringe-worthy plot. Runaway wasn't intended to be a comedy, but like many films that try to predict the near future it's now entertaining for all the wrong reasons. It's the details the film gets right and horribly wrong, at the same time, that make it fun to watch.