Runaway Train is a film that absolutely fascinates me even beyond its undoubted excellence.

It was directed by Andrey Konchalovskiy, a filmmaker with a career so delightfully unpredictable in its quality and genres of choice. It received two acting Oscar nominations, despite being an action film, one of them for Eric Roberts of all people. It has a screenplay by Akira Kurosawa. Mr. Blue from Reservoir Dogs co-wrote it. And it was produced and distributed by Cannon Films. Cannon Films!

How the hell did this film come together?! Furthermore, how on earth did it turn out to be so good? It really has to be regarded as one of the minor miracles of 1980s cinema that it managed to become…

A tough-as-nails Alaskan prison escape/train chase movie adapted from an Akira Kurosawa script (rewritten with some 70s crime grit by Ed Bunker) and directed by a Russian filmmaker who regularly collaborated with Tarkovsky... But also produced by Cannon Films and starring two gods of cinema Jon Voight and Eric Roberts in the goofy Method Acting zone as two oddball violent convicts who find themselves on the titular runaway train. (The voices! The screaming! CMON SUCKA!) Resulting in this strange concoction of what at some point might’ve been artier, more philosophical material about an animalistic, regressive society rubbing up against its contradictory technological progress and experiencing a dangerous and liberating loss of control, that due to its production conditions has had…

Human ruins in an inevitable end state.

One of the finest "spirit of the Sorcerer" in its genre, where men (one woman) scream at each other under the spell of pure frustration. A controlling god arrives to exact revenge, and the frozen hell is gifted its own kind of moving purgatory for good behavior (😏). Kurosawa’s project bears Konchalovsky’s cuckoo-like imprint, and his brutal depiction leaves no one cold, except the characters themselves.

Voight is an animal, an ANIMAL. But in the end, he reveals himself to be worse, a human.... There’s something deeply compelling in his performance, something that blends absurdity with a kind of raw survival instinct that’s almost a “joy” to watch. Roberts character searches for himself…

Two severely institutionalized men break out of prison and onto a runaway train, pitting man's bestial nature against his most powerful creation in the Cannon movie based on a screenplay by Akira Kurosawa that was nominated for two Oscars.

You, an ignorant sheep: Mr. Blue from Reservoir Dogs in this movie!

Me, darkly enlightened by grim and brutal truths: Eddie Bunker was the youngest man ever sent to San Quentin and one of the finest authors of our times.

A prison break out movie AND a train movie? Yes please. There's also an evil warden? Say no more. The prison parts of this movie are greatly elevated by the presence of and the script work done by the aforementioned Mr.…

a battle of a steel colossus in deep snow and two intellectually challenged gangsters on the loose, a hot female train worker dropping by randomly and an end battle of existentialist proportions. a couple of 80s Hollywood action producers meet Tarkowskij's former assistant at the helm. what a weird, what a beautiful construct.

the harsh alaskan winter landscape looks and feels more like Russia, the breakout of the jail reminds of the Gulag somehow. the metal machinery - secretly the protagonist - feels like a noisy, oily fit into this inhospitable environment. for large parts Runaway Train (german distribution title "Express into Hell") consists of yelling, ranting, grouching, slandering, cussing dudes - not only inside the train but also in…

Not to be confused with the popular Soul Asylum song - Runaway Train sees Eric Roberts (second movie of his in the same week!) and John Voight as two convicts trying to escape out of prison just to get caught into a new one that may lead them to their death.

Having seen a vast majority of Akira Kurosawa movies, its just fascinating to picture the idea of the iconic director directing this film initially, or even coming with the idea for it (this was supposed to be his second colored movie after Red Beard). Nonetheless what we got is a great premise that's executed in a way that manages to entertain and thrill its audience by pulling the one-setting…