Dune (1984)

Title: Dune (1984)

Director: David Lynch

Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Sean Young, Max Von Sydow, Dean Stockwell, Sting, Patrick Stewart, Jurgen Prochnow, Jack Nance, Virginia Madsen, Richard Jordan, Jose Ferrer, Brad Dourif

David Lynch’s Dune is a film that is hated by many but loved by another many, it’s a film that divides people, a love it or hate it type of thing, though if you ask me, there’s very little to hate about Lynch’s Dune. I’ve loved this movie ever since I was a kid, I didn’t fully “get it” back then, but there was something I liked about it anyways, my young mind recognized it as a special film. Dune is a film that I have revisited many times over in my life; it’s become one of those films that I will always love. Many years after I first discovered it, I read the book and appreciated the film on a whole other level. Considering the complexity of the book, I applaud Lynch for taking this gargantuan story and transferring it to the big screen because it was never going to be an easy job, the story that Frank Herbert weaved is epic, always has been, yet Lynch took it upon himself to film the thing, he even wrote the script himself! Many directors tried and failed for whatever the reason (Jodorowski and Ridley Scott being two of the filmmakers that didn’t end up directing) yet Lynch stuck to his guns and took the project head on. He even rejected an offer to direct Return of the Jedi (1983) in order to make Dune! Can you imagine what Return of the Jedi might have been like had Lynch directed it? Yeah, I know, the idea of Lynch playing with the Star Wars universe boggles the mind, yet I’m happy he ended up directing Dune instead because in many ways, Lynch was the perfect director for this project, especially when it comes to the more mystical aspects of the story, the telepathic abilities, Lynch had the perfect sensibilities for the more “weird” aspects of the Dune saga.

Herbert’s classic science fiction tale of politics, witches, religion and rebellion is one of those science fiction novels that any self respecting science fiction fan should tackle at some point in their lives. It really is one of the best designed fictional worlds; Herbert really constructed a fascinating, complex universe you can easily lose yourself in, a world filled with mysticism and inner dialog, of prophecies, false gods and abusive governments. The story of Dune is an all encompassing tale that covers many important aspects of our society, as you can expect, like all good science fiction, our way of life is mirrored in the story. For example, one of the main themes of the book revolves around religious fanatism, because after all, the story of Dune is one about a messiah coming to free his people, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg in this fantastic tale of liberation. You see, Dune is one of those books that is so complex that Herbert created a unique lexicon just for these books. So if you ever decide to read it, just remember your going to be introduced to a whole glossary of words unique to the Dune books, in fact, just in case you get lost, the book actually includes a glossary of Dune words! Words like “Kwisatz Haderach”, “Benne Gesserit Witches” and last but not least, the “Spice Melange”, but same as reading Anthony Burgesses’s A Clockwork Orange which also created its own lexicon, all the new words will end up making perfect sense to you by the time you finish reading the book.  So I highly recommend checking this novel out to all sci-fi fans out there. As with any book to film adaptation, the question remains, was the film a good adaptation of the book?

I’d say that yes, it in deed was a good adaptation of the book. In its essence, the film tells the story of the liberation of the Fremen and the rise of Paul Moadib as ruler of the known universe. And this is coming from me, a huge fan of Frank Herbert’s Dune books! I’ve read almost all of them (still need to read the last one Chapterhouse: Dune) so I can say that yeah, Lynch’s adaptation was faithful for the most part. The only area in which he ended up changing things just a bit was in the last five minutes of film, but the rest of the film is pretty much the book. Of course, quite a few things were left out of the book in order to deliver a two hour movie. Speaking of which, the only real problem for me with the film is that if you’ve read the books, you’ll feel as if you’re seeing the story in fast forward. Truth be told, this book has enough story going for it to make two movies, but what Lynch did with the script and what the producers did when they edited the film themselves was compress the whole story into one movie; a pretty daunting task if you ask me. At the end of the day, the film kept the spirit of the book; even Frank Herbert himself complimented Lynch on the film. Herbert mentioned that he was mostly happy with the film, except for the ending which is where Lynch turned things around towards the more theatrical. You see, in the book, Paul Atreides is a man playing to be a god, without in fact being one; he recognizes the power that being a god to the masses represents, so he uses that to the peoples advantage. But the way the film ends, it makes him look like he is actually a god with powers like making it rain on planet Arrakis. This is why Herbert himself said that while he liked the film, he says that Lynch got the ending wrong. “I have my quibbles about the film, of course. Paul was a man playing a god, not a god who could make it rain” So this is really the only real difference between the books and the film. Though the ending of the film has an impact, and makes Paul Atreides a more powerful character, the problem with it is that Lynch’s ending changes the whole character around going against the actual message that Herbert was trying to put across with his book, that religion is a powerful farce used to control the masses.

In retrospective, considering how much of the story Lynch actually shot, they should have taken the opportunity to film two movies back to back. Lynch filmed enough of the story to make a four hour long movie! That’s right my friends, Lynch’s original cut of Dune was four hours long! So they might as well have split the thing in two and released it as two movies, kind of like what Tarantino did with his Kill Bill movies. But no, instead the producers decided to take the film away from Lynch and edit it down to two hours and seventeen minutes, which is one of the reasons why Lynch disowns this movie. It’s the one he considers a ‘failure’ in his career. In my opinion the resulting film is not a bad one and very far from being a failure. Lynch had shot too much good stuff for it to be bad; the result was going to be good no matter what. But obviously, had Lynch had final cut of the film, it would have been better. This is the main reason why Lynch has always denied participation in any of the dvd releases of the film. I’m wondering if maybe one day we’ll get a director’s cut of the film; which simply put, would be awesome! But considering how Lynch refuses to even talk about this film, well, I’m guessing we’ll never see that happen. As of my typing this review, there are three versions of the film, each varying in length. There’s the theatrical cut, the extended cut you get to see on television and then there’s the special edition version. The most complete one is the special edition version because it includes many scenes that were deleted from the original theatrical cut, which is a nifty extra for any Dune fan. But out of all the versions, I still prefer the original theatrical version best, it’s the one I have always known and loved. But true Dune fans will get a kick out of seeing all those scenes that were left out of the original theatrical cut.  

Lynch considers it painful to even talk about Dune! I can understand why, here’s a movie that took three years of Lynch’s life to make! This was a huge, huge production. Funny how gargantuan productions like this one often times end up in failure! To have so much of your life invested in a film that would ultimately end up not being truly yours can be a huge let down for any director, but such is the nature of big budget productions; it’s the producers or the studio who have the final say, they put up all the millions so that should not suprise anyone. Speaking of which this here movie cost something around the vicinity of 40 million dollars, yet strangely enough, it looks more expensive than some of today’s 200 million dollar movies. The art direction is truly impressive on this film! Dune was made in a time when sets were completely built, not half way digitized like most of today’s films. The film required a crew of 1700 people! 80 sets were built in 16 sound stages! I mean this movie was huge in every way you look at it; and what about that cast? So many amazing actors! And here’s this big budget movie being made by a director used to working on small budgets. The film proved to be too big for Lynch who obviously works better with smaller, more personal material. Still, if you ask me, I think the film we ended up getting is a great slice of science fiction.

Speaking of the different adaptations of Dune, there was a mini-series from director John Harrison which was actually extremely faithful to the books. From a fans point of view, John Harrisons take on Dune was an extremely complete adaptation, he even went further than Lynch’s films and adapted both Dune Messiah (the second book in the series) and Children of Dune (the third book in the series) by making a second mini-series entitled Children of Dune (2003), which by the way was also pretty good. These television mini-series, though faithful, lack the lavish production values of Lynch’s film, which is one of the things I love the most about Lynch’s Dune: how big budget it is! Speaking of the cinematic future of the Dune series, director Peter Berg (Hancock, The Kingdom) attempted a remake a while back and was actively involved in it for more than two years, but stepped down in order to direct Battleship (2012). I know that doesn’t make much sense but that’s what happened! My take on it is that Berg was probably trying to make a commercial film that would make tons of money so that he could then go on and make Dune, unfortunately, Battleship was a huge ass loud flop! So those plans went down the drain. As I type this Pierre Morel, the director behind Taken (2008) and District B-13 (2004) was the last director attached to the project, but so far nothing has come of it, here’s hoping it happens, I’d love to see the Dune universe resurrected for a new generation.

Rating: 5 out of 5

    FOR A DETAILED ANALYSIS OF ALL THE TIMES DUNE WENT IN AND OUT OF PRODUCTION, AND ALL OF THE DIRECTORS AND PRODUCERS THAT FAILED TO MAKE THIS FILM ADAPTATION BEFORE LYNCH GOT A HOLD OF IT, VISIT RADIOATOR HEAVEN WHERE MY BUDDY J.D. LAFRANCE GIVES A DETAILED REPORT ON THE WHOLE STORY IN AN ARTICLE ENTITLED: DUNE: IT'S NAME IS A KILLING WORD.

Keep your eyes peeled for David Lynch's cameo as one of the Spice Miners! 

The Secret of My Success (1987)

Title: The Secret of My Success (1987)

Director: Herbert Ross

Cast: Michael J. Fox, Helen Slater, Richard Jordan

Review:

The Secret of My Success was a huge hit in the 80’s because it came out during Michael J. Fox’s peak of fame. He’d done extensive television work on Family Ties, and just gotten off releasing Back to the Future (1985) and Teen Wolf (1985), both of which were huge hits for him. The Secret of My Success, proved to be one of Michael J. Fox’s most successful films outside of the Back to the Future trilogy. Actually, at that time, anything that Michael J. Fox did made money, because his popularity and career where just starting to take off! I mean look at Teen Wolf a teen comedy that was a huge money maker. It only cost 1.4 million and made 80 million! So yeah, Michael J. Fox was riding hi on the fame train, question is, where any of the films he was making worth a damn? Is The Secret of My Success a good one?

I’d say that yeah, it was a good one, I laughed, I giggled and generally had a good time. I wanted to see something really 80’s for the 80’s Blog-a Thon thing, and I have to say this one is really, really 80’s! I mean, the clothes, the hair, the music…it took me back, which is what I love about watching movies from a certain decade, I love it when films take a snapshot of a certain moment in time. And in this particular moment in time, films about poor people suddenly becoming rich were extremely popular. a.k.a. 'rags to riches' stories.  For example films like Trading Places (1983), Protocol (1984) and Brewster’s Millions (1985) were all films about poor dopes suddenly becoming filthy rich because of a twist of fate, or pure luck. The difference with The Secret of My Success is that it’s main character, college graduate Bradley Foster doesn’t make it because lady luck suddenly smiled on him, nope, Bradley Foster makes it to the big time because of his own wits, his own smarts. I mean, yeah, true, he has an uncle that’s a CEO of a big company, and his uncle gives him a job, but he ends up working in the Mail Room, with very low pay. He makes it to the big time because of his enthusiasm, his energy and his ideas.

So basically, this is a coming of age story. It’s a film about a kid whose just gotten out of college and wants to leave his mom and dad’s farm house in Kansas to make it big in New York City's business world. He’s taken it upon himself to beat New York, to not go back home crying to mama. He wants to make it big, to have a meaningful relationship with a beautiful girl, a car, a private jet, basically, he wants it all and he wants to do it on his own, without having to screw anybody to get to the top. But of course, he’s a kid from Kansas, and now he’s in NYC, so it can also be seen as a fish out of water story, David vs. Goliath. The thing about Michael J. Fox’s character in The Secret of My Success is that he adapts very well to living amongst sky scrapers and working amongst “the suits”. This is also one of those films where the main character adopts a second personality so he can achieve his goals, and has to later, by the end of the film tell everyone the truth.

The Secret of My Success is one of the many films that came out during the 80’s that dealt with the corporate business lifestyle and its effects on society. It’s no secret that the 80’s were known as the decade of decadence, excess and self centered individuals making tons of money and spending it, the quintessential ’yuppies’ that were later so perfectly depicted in Mary Harron’s American Psycho (2000). It was a decade of economic abundance, a decade in which Reaganomics brought unemployment rates and poverty  down. Economy wise, United States was doing good. The flood gates to big business were opened wide. Back then films depicted greed as being…"for lack of a better word…good" to quote Michael Douglas’s character in Wall Street (1987) a film that mirrors perfectly the kind of mentality that permeated during this decade, in fact, Wall Street can be see as a more dramatic and serious version of The Secret of My Success. Other films of the 80’s that explored the corporate lifestyle were Baby Boom (1987) and Working Girl (1988). In the case of Baby Boom we get a film that tries to humanize the selfish yuppie by having the yuppie (played by Diane Keaton) inherit a baby from a distant recently deceased relative, she has to learn to accomodate her life, learn that what really matters in life is not money. Working Girl can be seen as a female version of The Secret of My Success, it’s also about a working class woman who pretends to be someone she isn’t in order to get ahead in the corporate world. So as we can see, these types of films were proliferating during the 80’s because they are a reflection of the era.

The Secret of My Success has survived this long because it’s what I call a “quintessential 80’s film” and because it stars Michael J. Fox who exploited his sweet natured, good boy persona. The film also gets surprisingly romantic, Michael J. Fox’s character, Bradley Foster falls in love with this working girl played by none other than the ultra beautiful Helen Slater. I kept cracking my head trying to figure out where I’d seen her before, then it dawned on me, it’s Supergirl (1984)! It’s really funny how in some scenes (especially those where they kiss) Helen Slater looks like a towering sky scraper next to Fox! The soundtrack is extremely 80’s, it has tunes from many 80’s staples such as Pat Benatar, Bananarama and Night Ranger, who by the way sing the theme song “The Secret of My Success”, which I remember sounded quite a bit on the airwaves.  At the end of the day, The Secret of My Success is a fun film, most of the fun comes from Michael J. Fox’s character leading a double life, trying to hide the fact that he is passing himself off as one of “the suits” when he is really just an employee from the mailing room; the idea being that if you believe yourself to be something, you can eventually become that thing which you want to become, an idea I’ve experienced to be true. Plus the film has something of an innocense to it, even if it can also be categorized as an 80's sex comedy. When we get down to it, The Secret of My Success is a multilayered film that spans quite a few genres, it's a comedy, it's a romantic film, it's a drama, it's a sex comedy, a coming of age story, a fish out of water story and it is also a truly 80's film, so if you're feeling nostalgic about the decade, this one comes highly recommended. 

Rating:  4 out of 5

Solarbabies (1986)

Title: Solarbabies (1986)

Director: Alan Johnson

Cast: Richard Jordan, Jami Gertz, Jason Patric, Lukas Haas, James LeGros

Review:

Solarbabies is one of the few post apocalyptic movies made specifically for kids. The only other one that I can really think of is City of Ember (2008), but correct me If I’m wrong here. Because Solarbabies was aimed at kids, it's a bit sillier than your typical post apocalyptic film. This silliness can also be attributed to the fact that Solarbabies comes straight out of the eighties, where movies were sillier, and yeah, for lack of a better word 'cornier'. Some of these eighties films really make you wonder how they were ever greenlit, but that’s precisely why I love 80’s stuff; they had the guts to be really cuh-razy!  How nuts is this movie? Well, just the fact that it’s a sci-fi film produced by Mel Brooks makes it zany enough in my book; and it’s not even a comedy! Well, at least not intentionally so. This is a film I used to watch a lot back when I was a kid; but even with my nostalgia goggles on, I couldn’t get passed the fact that this wasn’t a very good movie.

Solarbabies tells the story of a group of kids who live in this Nazi-like orphanage in the middle of a post apocalyptic dessert wasteland. This orphanage exists solely for creating soldiers for ‘The Protectorate’. In this place, kids are indoctrinated in the ways of submission and violence. They are allowed to roller-skate in certain designated areas while huge television screens play government films that tell them what to think and how to behave. They tell them things like “Behavior determines existence. Stick with us, learn to serve The Order and you’ll achieve a decent life-grid” In other words, freedom for these kids is out of the question; but is there something else out there in the post apocalyptic wasteland for them? At the same time, the Nazi like government has control over every drop of water on the planet. When will water be free for everyone? One day, a magical glowing sphere called ‘Bohdi’ falls from the skies and befriends the kids. The magical sphere is alive! It performs miracles! And it likes to play Rollerball! Will ‘Bohdi’ help these kids escape the oppression?

Solarbabies is like a who’s who of 80’s teen idols. We get the always beautiful Jami Gertz who once again  works next Jason Patric’s who does his first performance in a film on this one. Jamie Gertz and Jason Patric apparently got along so well that they later collaborated again on The Lost Boys (1988), one o the most recognized vampire films of the 80’s. Their characters fall in love in both movies, which leads us to believe their might have been something else going on behind cameras? We also get James LeGros’s first performance ever, I remember him for his participation in films like Phantasm II (1988) and Near Dark (1987) and speaking of Near Dark, actor Adrian Pasdar who plays the character of ‘Darstar’ on Solarbabies also appeared in Near Dark, which by the way is another great vampire film from the 80’s. Lukas Haas was the child actor of the moment at the time, he had already worked with Harrison Ford on the critically acclaimed film Witness (1985). And interestingly enough, Solarbabies would mark Lukas Haas second foray into post apocalyptic films, his first one being the highly dramatic television film Testament (1983), where he acted along side Kevin Costner. So I think it’s safe to say that Solarbabies is filled with what were the ‘it’ kids in Hollywood at the time. Some of them would go on to have great careers and appear in great films, others would disappear into obscurity.

The film has many faults going against it, most of which have to do with logic. Here’s one for you, the kids live in a Nazi like concentration camp, which is protected by armed cops and cars and watchtowers and all that, but when the time comes to escape, the kids simply waltz right out of the place, no fuss, no problems. Nobody even tries to stop them; they simply roller-skate their way out of the place. They leave the place screaming “We’re free! We did it! Yay!” Hey kids, newsflash: all you had to do was roller-skate out of there, apparently you were never really prisoners to begin with. And that’s another thing, in this world, every single place has a flat surface for them to skate in, even the open dessert! First their mission is to escape The Protectorate, but then by the end of the film their mission becomes going right back to the place they first ran away from! And they waltz right back in again, without any weapons or anything! These kids skate into a Nazi like concentration camp with only hockey sticks in hands! Nothing more! What else is up with this movie?

The film borrows heavily from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1986) and Dune (1984), but mostly from Dune. Let’s see, characters live in a dessert like planet, where water is a precious commodity. We have a group of people who live out in the open dessert called the Eco-Warriors, protectors of water and freedom…damn, this sounds a lot like the Fremen from Dune! Heck, there is this one scene that was ripped off directly from Dune in which a character puts his hand on a device that apparently burns the skin off of his hand, but then he realizes it never really happened, it was all in his mind. It was all his own fears playing with him; same as that test they perform on Paul Atreides on David Lynch’s Dune. There is a town on this film called ‘Tire Town’ which looks and feels a heck of a lot like ‘Barter Town’ from Beyond Thunderdome, plus there's the similarity of having kids survive alone in the wasteland, just like the crazy kids from Thunderdome. And then there’s the evil dictator controlling the land, which is kind of like a staple in most post apocalyptic films. Tank Girl (1995) for example has the same exact premise of an evil Nazi like government controlling all the left over water in a dessert like planet. 

  

But the thing I hated the most about this movie is that it functions in the same way as the Chronicles of Narnia films work: they are a metaphor for believing in Baby Jesus and Christianity in general. That’s right, this movie is all about Christianity, and any movie that propagates the idea of religion goes down a couple of notches in my book. Let’s see. The kids are oppressed, but a magical being comes down from the heavens to help them! It performs miracles, cures decease, makes it rain inside of a room, for all intents and purposes the magical sphere on this movie is Jesus. Sometimes the sphere is not with them, but “they can feel it”, the overall idea being that Bohdi (the magical alien sphere) is always with them and will always be with them. The magic of the ball unites them, they are always ultra happy whenever the ball is with them. One moment in the film has Jason Patric’s character (daftly enough also named Jason) talk to Bohdi telling it that he doesn’t know what it is, but he wants to believe. Characters have these questions about Bohdi, in the same way that people question the existence of God. In the end, to me both Bohdi and Jesus are the same thing: imaginary beings performing miracles that can only come to life through the magic of fiction. Be it a book, or a movie, these miracles never happen in real life.

The Power of Bohdi Unites Them!

In the end, Solarbabies in a mess of a movie with a bunch of disparate ideas that are never really followed through completely; for example, take those Eco-Warriors, why didn’t they go against the system instead of letting all these kids do it by themselves? Could it be that it would cost too much money to present the idea of an army? This group of Warriors we only meet briefly then they disappear from the film entirely. Same with another group of warriors that live out in the dessert. They are presented, and eliminated in the blink of an eye. So we have a movie that’s all over the place in terms of story and plot, it goes from one place to the next without any natural flow. We jump from one plot point to the next with childish enthusiasm “Let’s go! Let’s do it! Yay!” This film simply throws logic out the window. Ultimately, even though I enjoyed watching this one as a child, I ended up not enjoying it so much as an adult because it has so many faults going for it. But then again, this film was directed by a choreographer, a guy named Alan Johnson. Apparently Johnson convinced his pal Mel Brooks to fund the film; Johnson had directed Brook’s To Be Or Not To Be (1983), so they already had a professional relationship. By the way To Be Or Not To Be is the only other film in Johnsons repertoire. In my eyes Johnson is a great choreographer, but not a great director which is probably why he’s never directed again. Or maybe he’s never directed again because because Solarbabies was such a huge flop, take your pick. Solarbabies cost about 8 million to make, but only made 1.5 million back; sad indeed. Still, I think kids would enjoy this film, I know I did when I was about 10. I’d also recommend it to all those Christian parents out there who want to help their kids get used to the idea of a magical imaginary being that’s always looking out for you in life. My kids will be watching Mad Max Beyond Thundedome instead (1985).

Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5 

Logan's Run (1976)

Title: Logan’s Run (1976)

Director: Michael Anderson

Cast: Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Richard Jordan, Peter Ustinov, Farrah Fawcett

Review:

Logan’s Run is one of these movies that presents us with the idea of a utopia. A seemingly perfect society in which nothing goes wrong, everyone is happy and continually elated. Everyone lives under these domes that have weather regulation and protect society from the harsh conditions of the world outside. In these domes, people live only for pleasure and physical beauty. There are arcades, spas, plastic surgery clinics, and gymnasiums for everyone to enjoy. People seem to live on a never ending party. As long as you play by the rules that is. And the rules say that when you turn 30, you have to sacrifice yourself in an event called ‘Carousel’. Essentially, in Carousel you willfully let yourself be disintegrated into oblivion. Supposedly, according to their beliefs, when you die in Carousel you are instantly reborn or ‘renewed’ as they call it, in a new body. You come back as a newborn and start living your life once again. In this way, society avoids over population and food shortage.

But what happens when you don’t want to sacrifice yourself when you turn 30? Well, then you become a runner. You run from the government appointed Sandmen. These Sandmen will hunt you down and make sure you are terminated for good. But not all runners are caught by the Sandmen. There’s an underground movement of rebels that are constantly searching for a place called ‘Sanctuary’, a place where people over 30 can live without the fear of being hunted and killed. A place where people can grow old and die in peace.

This is a film that plays with many themes at the same time, some are more prevalent than others. Logan 5 and Jessica 6 (the films main characters) are two people who suddenly see themselves becoming rebels. They go against the ideas that the grand majority think. In the society represented on this film, questioning the status quo of things is something that is not encouraged. In one scene, a fellow Sandman tells Logan “You question too much for a Sandman” which lets us know questioning is not something that should be considered, you should just take things for granted and do as you are told. Logan isn’t like that, he is constantly questioning the how and the why of things. In one moment he asks a fellow Sandman “have you ever seen anyone renewed?” So right off the bat we know that Logan doesn’t take things for granted, he needs to know why things are the way they are.

Logan 5 and Jessica 6

Unfortunately, Logan is chosen by the system to go and find the rebels sanctuary. They fast forward his life clock and suddenly he finds himself becoming a runner himself. This is a common thing in films that deal with an oppressive system. They are told from the point of view of someone who used to work for the system, but suddenly finds him or herself becoming an enemy of the state. This is exactly what happens to Logan himself. He used to be a Sandman but now he is hunted by them, so if he doesn’t want to be zapped out of existence, he has to run; which he does. Jessica follows. Together they will find out if there is something beyond the walls of the domed city. So at heart, this film is really a film about rebels trying to see past the lies that they have been taught. And their search for the ultimate truth.

Farrah Fawcett makes an appearance as a plastic surgeon's assitant

Once they finally make it out of the domed city and into the real world, they suddenly find it to be a harsh post apocalyptic wasteland. We see abandoned buildings that have been overtaken by nature. Man has become so disconnected from nature that Logan and Jessica find the out doors horrible. Yet, little by little they adjust. And on their trek through the wasteland they stumble upon something they had never seen before: an old man. In the dome, people didn’t want to properly deal with getting old and dying. In that society they preferred to die young and avoid old age completely. This is one of the films main themes, the acceptance of old age and death as a natural part of life. There is a scene where all the young people in the dome encounter the old man and see him as something strange and alien to them, they come to embrace and accept him. The ultimate message is, old people have their charm. They have their good humor, their interesting stories, and their wisdom. Old people need not be ignored by the young. They should be embraced and accepted as an important part of our society.

The Old Man

Logan’s Run is also about true love vs. physical/sensual pleasure and the difference between the two. In the dome people engage freely in sex. You hit a couple of buttons in a controller and some hot chick or guy teleports him or herself into your room to have sex with you. They also have a place called ‘Love Shop’ where people engage in sexual orgies. In the domed city, sex is something cold and calculated. It’s simply about the pleasure, never about the love, the caring or the warmth. Once Logan and Jessica escape the dome and explore the real world outside of it, they come to depend on each other for survival and this brings them closer together. They soon discover the pleasures of true love. Lets face it, theres nothing better then sex and true love all rolled up into one and Logan and Jessica discover that in their adventures on the outside world.

So as you can see, this film covers all sorts of themes and issues that make it interesting. My only problem with the film is that once they encounter the old man, the movie screeches to a halt. I don’t mind the fact that the film focuses on Logan and Jessica’s encounter with him, because its an essential part of the story, but I think they dwell a bit too long in it, in these scenes the dialog is slow and boring. But that all quickly changes when Logan and Jessica decide to go back to the dome to tell everyone that they can be free and live in the real world without life clocks and without having to sacrifice themselves when they turn 30.

The films effects were inventive for their time, but by today’s standards they are extremely dated. For example, the miniatures are obviously miniatures. Matte paintings are obvious as well. One thing is still solid though: the art direction in some sequences was awesome. Loved the look of some of the sets. So retro. Sadly, in other scenes it is obvious that the film was shot inside of a mall in Dallas Texas. They used this old trick of making real locations look ‘futuristic’ by adding a few props, the result didn’t always work, so the film is uneven in that sense. A remake was in development with Bryan Singer attached to direct it, but when Synger's Superman Returns bombed, I guess Singer decided to go with other projects that would assure his stay in Hollywood. As of right now, the film is in the proverbial development hell. Lets hope that Bryan Singers new X-man movie is a hit so that the Logan’s Run remake gets renewed someday. I’m curious to see how this one would look updated, in my opinion, its one of those movies that could actually benefit from getting remade.

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5

 

Some rebels are way hotter then others