Runaway Train

When the song Runaway Train by Soul Asylum was playing on the radio a few days ago, I thought I might as well rewatch the adventure movie of the same name. This is a movie in which you will essentially feel all the frostbite and fingers crushed by iron, which transforms the usual premise of a prison escape into an original "survival movie"; with a runaway armoured train and a very memorable manic performance by Jon Voight in the lead role and great Eric Roberts and Rebecca De Mornay in supporting roles. With the unconventional direction of Andrey Konchalovskiy and the original screenplay by Akira Kurosawa, this Cannon Films production feels like revelation. This is a stylish and chilling action movie that really gets under your skin. (02/02/2020)

An excellent thriller with a great atmosphere of despair. Simple but fundamentally a story of genius: A runaway train with two escaped convicts, with no chance of stopping in the wilderness of Alaska. Lunatic Manny is one of the best roles Jon Voight ever played and Eric Roberts gives the performance of his life (nomination for an Oscar). And the ending... (11/11/2006)

Sure, the story and a bit of the execution is B-grade, but the acting, the dynamic editing, and last but not least the unstoppable runaway train give it a very convincing mask of refined action spectacle. Konchalovsky didn't sweat much on the director's chair, but the film is all the more brisk and emotionally striking in the end. If you fancy switching off for 100 minutes and a splash of blood here and there won't upset you, don’t hesitate. 75% (02/03/2013)

A riveting thrill ride that benefits from two things in particular: 1) Konchalovsky’s conception of the limited space of the train, where the tension is heightened by the cuts to the control center, which creates more obstacles and problems, 2) the excellently written and acted characters of the prisoners and guards, for whom it is quite an issue to feel any sympathy, given their nature. The result is an uncompromising flick whose appeal, even after more than twenty years, is mainly due to the irresistible boyish feeling of hard adventure, as is the case for the films made by Frankenheimer or Carpenter. In fact, the traditional synth music references the latter. A classic. (03/09/2009)

The icy atmosphere is fantastic, very depressing and real. Jon Voight is also excellent, as long as he doesn’t go into emotions, where he doesn’t feel authentic but rather awkward. Rebecca De Mornay, on the other hand, delivers not just overacting but the highest level of embarrassment. There were several moments where the dialogues between the main trio felt very artificial and hard to believe, something that hasn't happened to me in a long time with a movie. As a suspenseful thriller, however, it is acceptable primarily thanks to the direction and the original idea. It is hard to imagine the harsh and snowy landscape of Alaska as a backdrop better utilized than it was done here. (27/09/2008)