[The News Bot]

Reviewed by Chris McEneany, 16th November 2009
Logan's Run is one of my favourite SF films from my childhood, but the reality of it is that Michael Anderson's opulent, though sluggish adaptation is nowhere near as classic as I would like it to be. But whilst it botches such fertile concepts in favour of overly simplistic dramatics and fitful set-pieces, it does supply a great deal of good-natured, old school fun. And that just has to be applauded. The imagery proved to be the stuff that cult fascination is made of – Box and his sculpting, the bubble-cars, Francis and Logan blasting away at a Runner, the palm-crystal and, of course, the inexorable aerial dance of death that is Carrousel – and still resonates even today with a combination of nostalgic awe and sublime invention. The theme of hedonism and Youth Culture is always intriguing and the sheer sensuality of the film is quite eye-popping.

Richard Jordan makes for a great and sympathetic villain, whilst the two leads are blankly beautiful yet still highly likeable. Ustinov, to me, still seems as though he has wandered in off the set of another movie entirely, but he has a rascally tenacity that is part and parcel of what Logan's Run is all about. There is no doubt that the film could have been better if a little more thought had gone into it, but Michael Anderson used his material with a workmanlike determination and came up with a film that certainly provides some colourful and thought-provoking escapism.

Warner do the film proud by sticking to its original multi-track audio elements and delivering a surprisingly vital TrueHD track that showcases Goldsmith's landmark score extremely well and helps to energise the drama with some fairly neat directionality. The image is no slouch either, and provides an authentic picture that is un-mired by digital tomfoolery. Sadly, only the commentary is a worthy extra and it is something of a disappointment that some fresher material couldn't have been found, or at least the addition of the extras that were on the laserdisc version.

Logan keeps on running with this Blu-ray release … and my advice is to go after him.


Read the full review...

[spl23]

I really must get a copy of this - I loved both the film and the 70's TV series.

I'm amazed that none of the cinema homage T-shirt dealers like Last Exit To Nowhere haven't made a Sandman uniform t-shirt yet - I'd be first in the queue for one!

[mad mac]

Originally Posted by spl23

I really must get a copy of this - I loved both the film and the 70's TV series.

I'm amazed that none of the cinema homage T-shirt dealers like Last Exit To Nowhere haven't made a Sandman uniform t-shirt yet - I'd be first in the queue for one!

Oh absolutely - a cracking idea! There are t-shirts with the hand and a glowing crystal out there though. I've seen those.

But a full Sandman costume - complete with THAT gun (wow!) - would be ultra-cool.

Now, just got to get the wife to dig out that little green see-thru Jessica 6 number!

Cheers and keep on running!

Chris McEneany