Highly Overrated But Still Good

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

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.

As far as I know, this terrific action movie, among the ever best from the eighties, is the over the top films produced by Cannon Group industries; as I called crap factory, most of them action features that deserved no more than the garbage can. The equivalent of what Europacorp is in our days. And Luc Bessons's own crap factory also gave us some masterpieces such as Tommy Lee Jones's two films: THREE BURIALS and HOMESMAN. Yes, RUNAWAY TRAIN is an absolute powerful film, definitely an outstanding piece of work, bleak, brutal, very clever too, with an unforgettable symphony of performances. One of the best prison films ever. I still can't believe, thirty years later, that Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus - Cannon Group executives - produced such a movie. I won't add more to what had already been told in the other amazing comments, far better than mine. A pure gem.

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.

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.