Research - The Running Man

The film starts off with rolling titles on screen, telling the viewer what time period it is and what state the world is in which includes mentioning the fictional game show ‘The Running Man.’ At a low angle then it shows a helicopter flying over. Lots of close up shots are used showing the navigation of the helicopter and cuts to soldiers inside readying their guns showing that they are preparing to use them. An extreme close up is then shown of the main character Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger). He is told to move in the check out with co-ordinates. The scene shows the full helicopter with all the men inside then flies off screen. An extreme close up on the helicopter monitor is shown of lots of people gathered in one place in a food riot. An extreme close up of Ben’s face is shown when he is told to ’eliminate anything moving’ and he is disgusted with the order showing he is different to the others in the helicopter.

 

He refuses the order and says “I will not fire at helpless human beings” which shows that he is a good man and shows that the way he is treated is unfair and untrue throughout the rest of the film. The scene cuts to the soldiers in the back who look at each other in disbelieve. Another extreme close up is shown of Ben’s face. Another extreme close up is shown of the man next to Ben who is told to detain Richards and follow the orders. A close up of Ben’s fist hitting his face is shown, showing that he is strong. The two men grab Ben and pull him into the back of the helicopter, which is shown in a side angle. He then continues to hit three men in the face and each hit is shown by an extreme close up. Ben then slips and has his upper torso hanging out of the helicopter. A shot of the ground below is shown to see from how high up Ben is hanging, then cuts back to Ben in a medium close up who is hanging upside down out of the helicopter. It cuts back to show the two soldiers who were sitting in the back who pull Ben back in. An extreme close up is shown of Ben’s face when he is pulled back in. We then see a point of view shot of what Ben can see of one of the men standing above him. He says ’See you in hell’ and hits Ben in the head with a gun. The impact of the gun hit’s the screen and the screen goes back and starts up another area.

 

Lots of different shots of men working in a prison are shown and different title is shown in each scene. The first is to tell the viewer where the new area shown is which says ’Wilshire Detention Zone 18 months later.’ We see Ben again, he has grown facial face and has got really tanned showing the effect of staying in the detention zone for a year and 6 months since the first scene in the helicopter.