Logan's Run

“Logan’s Run” is an example of a science fiction film that has some interesting ideas, but not much else. In 2274, humanity lives in domed cities and they exist only for pleasure, their every need taken care of by robots. To maintain the population and resources under control, when you hit thirty you’re given two choices: take part in a rebirthing ceremony on the “Carrousel” where you will be vaporized, but stand the chance of being “renewed” or make a run for the fabled “Sanctuary” outside the city limits. Logan 5 (Michael York) is a “Sandman”, part of a police force assigned to eliminate runners. When he is tasked by the city’s computer to find Sanctuary, it decides to give him a little extra incentive by marking him as a wanted man, meaning he MUST find Sanctuary, or face disintegration at the hand of his Sandmen peers. Logan 5 allies himself with a woman named Jessica 6 (Jenny Agutter) and the two of them go on the run.

This science fiction film uses miniatures, green-screen effects and elaborate sets extensively. At times they show the film’s age, but it’s also part of the charm. This is such a 70’s flick; it’s a little bit frightening. The haircuts, the clothing, even the casting makes this feel more like a period piece than a glimpse into a dystopian future (though an Earth whose fashion senses have not evolved for 300 years sounds pretty scary to me) It’s cutting-edge for the time, so you shouldn’t judge the film on this. Let’s be realistic, special effects don’t count for everything. For instance, would you rather watch one of the overblown awfully written Michael Bay CGI avalanches or say… “Jason and the Argonauts”?

So basically, when you turn 30, you go on this bizarre amusement ride-looking thing, the soon-to-be-obliterated people stand in a circle and start to float towards a glowing jewel in the air. If they used strings or some sort green-screen, I don’t know but that looks good. When it comes to the people being disintegrated, it feels like the budget ran out. Compare those scenes to when Logan 5 and his partner Francis 7 (Richard Jordan) hunt down and eliminate a runner. That hunt is something special, people up in the air being superimposed by explosions? Not so much. I guess it’s ok, mostly unnecessary. They could’ve easily had the people simply walk into a room, have a bright light flash and a smoldering pile of ash remain and it would’ve been just as effective. I criticize this aspect without any remorse.

This film needed to rethink the design of its robots. We get two major ones, the first of which’s specialty is plastic surgery. Don’t ask me how it does this with its stiff arms that hardly bend. The second really threw me off in a way that in retrospect is pretty funny. It’s this android called Box. I was 100% convinced when I saw this character that it was, in story, not a robot at all, but a man pretending to be a machine. The reason for this is that it’s obviously a guy in a costume. Whenever the camera zooms into its face, you can see the actor underneath the mask and I was absolutely convinced that it was a clue for an upcoming twist. Boy was I wrong. It’s just a lousy-looking get-up. The Tin Man from “Wizard of Oz” looked more convincing... and that guy was singing and dancing, not to mention in a film from 1939!

Ultimately, those are details, things that could’ve been overlooked, but this is not a particularly well-written story. Although we get an opening crawl informing us about the people of this world, we as an audience never see the appeal of the Carrousel and never really understand how the society works. We’re told that every human need is taken care of by robots but people still have jobs. There are services provided to our characters; does that mean there’s some sort of currency in this world? We must assume as much, as this utopian society still has poor districts. Don’t they have clean-up robots and police robots to ensure everything stays in order? There are some interesting ideas thrown around, but they only served to confuse me, to make me want to see more of this society so I could figure out what makes everything tick.

“Logan’s Run” is a science-fiction movie that has not aged particularly well. Even upon initial release, I don’t know how it would have played. I’d welcome a remake, as these “runner” science fiction films have been done many times and there aren’t just one or two that I would consider classics, but half a dozen. I also have the feeling that many people will have a soft spot for this one. Outside of that demographic, I can’t see anyone wanting to view this film instead of say … “Total Recall”, “Minority Report” or “The Island” (and even then, that movie’s not even that good) It has its appeals, but there’s not much about “Logan’s Run” to make you want to go back to it. (Theatrical version on the big screen, February 2, 2014)