"Runaway Train" is an unusual film in that it was a Golan-Globus production that critics actually liked! During the 1980s, most of their films were clearly NOT marketed to movie critics but the masses and action, action, action was what made their films popular. But this one managed to impress folks far more than films like "The Apple" or action flicks with Chuck Norris.

The story is set in a godawful prison in Alaska. Among the inmates is one the warden particularly hates, Manny (Jon Voight),as Manny is a major escape risk and troublemaker. Not surprisingly, after the warden tries to get Manny killed, he escapes and takes the strong but dopey Buck (Eric Roberts) with him. But this is NOT a sentimental choice, as Manny is more than willing to use him when the need arises.

While they were able to escape successfully, they are not scot-free. This is because they choose the wrong train to hide out in, as the driver suffers a fatal heart attack and the train is racing out of control....and sooner or later it's going off the tracks or crashing into something.

As you'd expect, the film excels on action. For me, a problem was that the prisoners, in particular Manny, seem pretty awful and unredeemable...so the idea of them dying didn't seem all that important a concern...more the innocent folks who might be killed. Worth seeing but due to its violence and language, it's a film you might want to think about before you watch it.

An action thriller or exploration of existential angst? RUNAWAY TRAIN manages to be both of those things, and the Akira Kurosawa (upon whose screenplay the film is based) credit at the opening is the first clue that this is going to be quite unlike the rest of the Cannon Group's fare during the 1980s. On the face of it, RUNAWAY TRAIN looks like a superficial thriller: it starts off with a prison break and then moves to the out-of-control speeding locomotive stuff, throwing in plenty of suspense and stunts along the way. But it's something far more besides.

The best action films work because of the characters involved. DIE HARD wouldn't be so well remembered today if it wasn't for Bruce Willis's wisecracking cop, and imagine PREDATOR or COMMANDO without Schwarzenegger's larger-than-life presence. RUNAWAY TRAIN is a very good film, and the reason for that is in the well drawn characters, in particular Jon Voight's long-term con. Voight plays a scarred, hulking prisoner who's been welded into his cell for the past three years, and he understandably goes a bit crazy when he discovers himself a free man. Usually, we're used to seeing Voight as a serious and subdued character (as in DELIVERANCE) which makes his performance here as a borderline-insane brute of a man all the more shocking and surprising. During his various monologues I realised I was watching a performance of greatness.

Eric Roberts is a bit harder to stomach, playing a slow-witted character who's there as a foil for Voight. His mannered performance may be off-putting to some, but in the end I give him the thumbs up thanks to his fresh-faced innocence. Rebecca De Mornay, in her breakout role, is a breath of fresh air and adds immeasurably to the experience.

Let's face it: much of what happens in this film is clichéd. The early prison scenes, while mean, vicious and violent, are overly familiar. The train-bound shenanigans are also familiar – and I groaned when they threw in the old 'weak bridge' cliché once again. Late scenes involving the crazed warden (a deliciously nasty John P. Ryan) are pretty ludicrous. Nonetheless, RUNAWAY TRAIN makes up for these shortcomings with well drawn, realistic characters, superb meditations on the nature of man and one of the best, most chilling endings I've ever seen in a film, a literally hair-rising shot that will stay with me for a long time to come.

Oscar Manheim (Jon Voight) wins a court case and he's released from solitary after 3 years. His cell had been welded shut after previous escapes. The warden is forced to release him into the general population. Buck McGeehy (Eric Roberts) joins him to escape the isolated Alaskan prison in deep winter. They stowaway on a locomotive. The conductor suffers a heart attack and the train becomes an uncontrolled runaway. The danger mounts as locomotive hostler Sara (Rebecca De Mornay) gets to the cab.

This is an intense thriller. It starts as a gritty prison movie. It's a tense situation that never ever relaxes. The danger builds and builds. Voight is gruff and Roberts is a weasel. Together they are highly unstable. The whole movie is infused with this instability. The introduction of De Mornay just elevates it to another level. The action looks good and it feels real.