Blu Ray Review: Runaway Train (1985)

There is a scene in Andrei Konchalovsky’s “Runaway Train” when a shocked, disgusted Rebecca DeMornay looks up at escaped prisoner Jon Voight and yells, “You’re an animal!” In response, Voigt snarls back, “Worse! Human!” It is one of many powerful moments in a film penned by Akria Kurosawa and allegedly based on an actual event.

Voight plays Oscar “Manny” Manheim, a maximum security prisoner considered so dangerous, he was sealed off in a private cell for three years. When they go to release him into population, he is found doing pushups, defiantly responding to the warden who had threatened to keep him in that cell for life. Voight initially refused to take the role, believing the grizzled character was just not for him. The director convinced him that the best roles for an actor were those that were far against type. Voight took the role and won a Golden Globe for what continues to be one of the finest performances of his career.

Eric Roberts as the amiable, hero-worshipping Buck offers excellent support, while Rebecca DeMornay as the woman who ends up caught on the runaway train car with the two escapees, also plays against type and turns in what is somewhere near her best work. The result is a brutally brilliant piece of action filmmaking, that not only benefits from the performances and the script, but from Konchalovsky’s artful direction. Overhead shots alternate with tight close-ups, quick edits settle into long takes. Violence erupts and plays out in an almost symphonic manner. It is all quite remarkable.

Along with the fast pace, excitement, good writing, and fine direction, it is the performances that sustain Runaway Train, as each of the three leads perform at optimal level. One expects good acting out of such top tier talents as Voight, Roberts, and DeMornay, and are not let down with their powerful work in this film, playing scenes that truly resonate.

KIno Lorber's new blu ray is a brand new 2K Master that also boasts such Extras as a fascinating audio commentary by Eric Roberts with film historians C. Courtney Joyner and David Del Valle.

The blu ray can be found at this link: Runaway Train