Runaway Train

WARNING: This review is hidden because it reveals the content of the film.
Click here to show this review. “Runaway Train” is a superior survival-thriller with a nice little twist to it. You won’t really know what you’re getting into, but by the end, all you can say is WOW. I can’t believe I’d never heard of this picture before today. It’s a downright crime on my part.

Inside Stonehaven Maximum Security Prison, there is a convict who has been locked in his cell, welded in there for three years. Not for being a dangerous man. Oscar “Manny” Manheim (John Voight) defied the Associate Warden Ranken (John P. Ryan) by attempting to escape and was being punished for it, until a court order finally deems his sentence unfair. Escaping from prison soon after being returned to a normal cell, Manny and fellow prisoner Buck McGeehy (Eric Roberts) find themselves on a train heading out of Alaska… but the train is out of control and no engineer is on board.

I think the key to making good prison escape movies is to invest some time into making the protagonists likeable. Let’s face it. Unless you simply have the prisoners be wrongfully locked up, it’ll be hard for the audience to say: “yeah, I want to see that guy get out of his cell”. The way this film pulls it off is quite ingenious. There are no revelations that Manny or Buck have been set up. Their crimes are bad, but they’re not the worst. They’re the kind of transgressions that if someone told you they committed and had done their time for you, you’d be fine with once you knew the whole story. What really gets you is the central rivalry between Manny and Warden Ranken. You might not see it at first, but Ranken is just as bad, if not worse than the people he oversees. He’s sadistic. I’m not even convinced that he cares that much about getting the convicts back into their cells or squelching the incoming riots that would happen should escape completely. I think he just saw the man’s face on day 1 and made it his mission to destroy him and the fact that it hasn’t been working, it’s driven him to obsession.

The screenplay of “Runaway Train” is based off of one by Akira Kurosawa, and that layer of Japanese sensibilities adds a whole new dimension to this film. Escaping from a prison into the Alaskan wild is not really much to desire. The act of defiance though, that’s the real victory. It’s never explicitly said, but this film is as all about honour. It’s about that act of defiance, looking that injustice in the eye and spitting in its face. “Runaway Train” sucks you into this sentiment. It’s like Manny and Ranken are so consumed by their hatred for each other that everything else, even the escape becomes secondary. Breaking out of prison becomes a symbol of defiance, but not because Manny has been sentenced by the state to stay there. The rebellion is Manny telling the Warden that he can’t have him anymore, no matter what he does.

When it comes to the train itself, it’s very exciting. The situation the convicts find themselves in, it’s not inescapable but it is very difficult to get out of. Four locomotives, out of control, with no idea how to stop any of them. And remember, they’re trying to lie low. They don’t want to stop this train because that will give away their position. So you look to the staff of the railroad company for hope. Will they be able to stop a catastrophe from happening? You’ve got these two overlapping storylines that compliment each other so well. When the Ranken is out of the picture, it’s all about the survival, that’s unspoken alliance between the convicts on the locomotive and the employees of the railway. Then the Warden comes in and sort of acts as a foil to both parties.

What truly won me over and made me realize how great of a film this is was the ending. It’s absolutely perfect, concluding with a quote from Shakespeare’s Richard III that’s a powerhouse. You’ve got all of these different aspects working together and heading the way are some terrific performances. This is probably the best I’ve ever seen John Voigt. He creates such a unique, quasi charismatic, but also dangerous and somewhat desperate man that you can’t keep your eyes off of him. “Runaway Train” floored me. (Theatrical version on the big screen, February 8, 2016)