On the Run
I had never seen Logan’s Run before getting this copy in for review, but as a fan of Star Trek, especially The Original
Series, I was looking forward to it. A relatively high score (6.7/10) on IMDB had my hopes up, and I wasn’t to be disappointed. The film stars Michael York, Richard Jordan, Jenny Agutter, Peter Ustinov and several other actors you may have never heard of. Each actor turns in an excellent performance though, and they were very well casted for their individual roles.
The story has Logan and his good friend and co-worker Francis as Sandmen. A Sandman in this Utopian society of the 23rd century is someone who kills anyone that is caught trying to escape this Utopian world. Relative to the total population, “Runners” aren’t all that common, but a team of Sandmen have the tools and training to kill them on site.
Why try and escape from this Utopian world in the first place? Well, besides the fact that your death is predetermined at birth to be set at the age of 30…but this has become accepted, so for most citizens there is no good answer to that question. It isn’t until Logan (Logan 5 technically) meets Jessica (okay, Jessica 6) that he begins to discover a new way of thinking about this Utopian world. Logan was always a curious fellow, something Francis never understood, but Jessica and the idea of a world outside begins to interest Logan. It’s also of the interest of the main computer that runs the entire place — the sentient, omnipotent computer instructs Logan to investigate the “Sanctuary.” An Ankh emblem was discovered on the body of a recent Runner, and the computer wants to know what it and the “Sanctuary” are all about — and it’s up to Logan to find out and eliminate this “threat.”
As it turns out, Jessica is involved in this mystery. The deadline (literally) that the computer has given Logan and
Logan’s own thoughts begin to make him doubt the Utopian world and the omnipotent computer. He also begins to fall in love with Jessica, and the two decide to escape. It’s a perilous journey, and Francis feels betrayed and continues pursuit after Logan and Jessica. They manage to escape the confines of the bubbled biosphere and they find themselves in a new world. They quickly discover that things aren’t so black and white and cut and dry as the computer-ran Utopian world would have them believe.
I feel like I may have already dropped one too many spoilers for anyone that hasn’t seen this classic, so I’ll withhold any further comments on the film at this point. Suffice it to say that it’s a very captivating story with great
performances by the actors, backed by an excellent script.
Onto Blu-ray And Into Your Collection
The 1080p, 16×9, 2:4:1 picture of Logan’s Run is well represented on Blu-ray. For the most part, the image quality is
very good to great, although some areas seemed a little blurry. This isn’t as crisp of a HD translation as, say, Enter the Dragon is that was filmed at roughly the same time, but it’s still nice. It’s much easier for me to forgive some
image quality issues, which again aren’t a major problem here, on a classic film like this than a much newer film. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track does a fine job as well, and while neither the image or sound will blow you away technically, I think you will be impressed with the production Anderson and crew put together thirty-three years ago.
As for extra features, you get the de facto trifecta: audio commentary, making of feature, and trailer. The audio commentary includes Director Michael Anderson, actor Michael York (Logan 5), and Costume Designer Bill Thomas. This is such an impressive and groundbreaking film that a viewing with the commentary track is warranted and recommended. A vintage making of feature, “A Look Into the 23rd Century” is basically a ten minute, SD, promo look at the making of the film. A narrator guides us through the feature that includes lots of vintage footage from the film’s production. Several on the set interview clips are shown too with cast and crew; very interesting. Finally, the theatrical trailer is included.
To sum up, this is a great film and a fine release on Blu-ray. It’s easy for me to recommend even for those that have this one on DVD.