the audience applauded

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

I don't think I could dislike the movie that gave us both Machete and Zeus.In all seriousness though, Runaway Train might just be the best film to come out from the crap-factory known as Cannon Group. Unsurprisingly this gem is based on a script by someone head and shoulders above the pack, this being here Akira Kurosawa. But no man is an island, and it takes considerably more than a script to make a movie. Jon Voight and Eric Roberts might provide the best performances I've seen from either one in a chilling setting that beautifully emphasizes the desperation of the characters in both their current predicament and life in general.In addition to compelling cinematography, this Cannon film also surprises the viewer with yet another aspect sorely missing in many of their films: character development. This films grips the viewer on so many fronts and doesn't let go. The Runaway Train might be without a driver, but the film about it very much in control of its own fate, from beginning to end. I was pleasantly surprised by the way the movie almost poetically wraps itself done before the credits roll like any properly told story should.It saddens me to realize how often overlooked this movie is. Before the Cannon Group documentary Electric Boogaloo I don't remember any mention of it, even though I've scanned quite some of their catalogue in search of "so bad it's good" b-movies (and boy, do they deliver that in a steaming pile!)However, Runaway Train is in a completely different category, and despite some minor flaws I do heartily recommend it to anyone even vaguely interested in it. Such poetry in film never comes too often to our screens, so it should be savoured at every chance.

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.

Allow me to step out my time machine in the year 2016 and express my love for a film that I first saw first run in January 1986. From the opening scene at the supermax prison located in rugged northwestern Alaska to the escape and subsequent epic train ride this film was chocked full of imagery and strong characters especially Voight and Roberts. These two gave the performance of a lifetime and were robbed at awards programs with only a nomination for Roberts. Look for a young Danny Trejo in the boxing ring with Roberts in his first ever movie scene at the beginning of the film. Without disclosing the plot the most interesting aspect is how such a cast of unbelievably dangerous characters could evoke so much understanding and empathy that even in the worst of the worst there is dignity and respect worthy of any of us. One other aspect that added a surreal moment to an already surreal movie. At the end of the film as the dispatch office as given up hope on stopping the train and saving the occupants the head controller Frank Barstow who designed the computer system that now has failed to save them laments how could this have happened with all this technology and expertise and in the background there is a television with the a news story about the space shuttle. This film was released the same month as the Challenger Disaster and yours truly was watching this first run only days after the disaster. It was a coincidence but wow talk about powerful. I walked out of the theater completely affected for days and now thirty years later I'm still talking about it.

Oscar Manheim (Jon Voight) wins a court case and he's released from solitary after 3 years. His cell had been welded shut after previous escapes. The warden is forced to release him into the general population. Buck McGeehy (Eric Roberts) joins him to escape the isolated Alaskan prison in deep winter. They stowaway on a locomotive. The conductor suffers a heart attack and the train becomes an uncontrolled runaway. The danger mounts as locomotive hostler Sara (Rebecca De Mornay) gets to the cab.This is an intense thriller. It starts as a gritty prison movie. It's a tense situation that never ever relaxes. The danger builds and builds. Voight is gruff and Roberts is a weasel. Together they are highly unstable. The whole movie is infused with this instability. The introduction of De Mornay just elevates it to another level. The action looks good and it feels real.