After Tom Selleck had to turn down the part of Indiana Jones due to his commitment to "Magnum PI", he starred in a steady string of action flicks in the early 80's, searching to breakout as a movie star.
Suffice to say, 1984's RUNAWAY didn't prove to be that vehicle. Written and Directed by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Rising Sun) this is Crichton slumming with a mediocre budget, a paper-thin story and routine characters.
Selleck is Ramsay, a policeman specializing in robots that go astray and threaten safety. Cynthia Rhodes is his new partner (do you think she will be in danger?) and Joey Cramer is his son Bobby (do you think the bad guy will kidnap him?). There are NO surprises in any of the film's goofy 99 minutes.
This was Kiss's Gene Simmons biggest film role and Gene doesn't chew the scenery, he devours it! Every evil line is accompanied by crazy wide eyes and lecherous sneering.
Simmons could have been fun if the film didn't take him so seriously, but he comes off horribly.
This is a seriously bad flick and all the computer technology looks like its from 1985. Between the brick phones and the giant monitors with single lines of green text, this "future" appears to have taken place a long time ago.
Along with "Looker" from the same era, this is Crichton's worst work. He certainly recovered later, but this ridiculous mess was a low point.
Don't stay tune for the end credits, during which Selleck and Rhodes make out for the entire duration.
Too bad there weren't one more of those jittery metal spiders left to interrupt them!
Low tech crap that gets an F.
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