ON THE RUN: An Unusual Partnership

ON THE RUN (Blu-ray)

1988 / 89 min

88 Films

Review by Mr. Bonnie, the Badass😸

I’ll say this much…this bleak and brutal Hong Kong action film doesn’t pull its punches. On the Run is the first film I’ve seen by director Alfred Cheung, and if this is indicative of his work, the guy’s got no qualms over killing off characters other directors might be compelled to spare. In this case, it adds some welcome unpredictability to an otherwise standard crime thriller, as does the unusual pairing of its two main antagonists.

Heung Ming (Yuen Biao) is cop whose estranged wife (also a cop) is murdered by a mysterious assailant, Chui Pai (Pat Ha). Though his status in the department is pretty lowly, Heung vows to find the killer. When he manages to track Chui down and capture her, he informs his superintendent, Lui (Charlie Chin), so he can make the arrest. Instead, Lui sends his men to kill them both because the entire squad are corrupt, ruthless drug dealers.

Shouldn't have picked at it, Heung.

Here’s the interesting part…since Heung is framed for his wife’s murder, he and Chui end up on the run together with his young daughter, Lin, in tow. Not only do the two learn to trust each other, they make a formative team when turning the tables on their pursuers. In fact, Chui becomes every bit as protective of Lin as her father. This quasi-family dynamic is pretty engaging, and if nothing else, it’s certainly an unusual partnership for a film of this type.

Elsewhere, On the Run maintains a grim tone, punctuated by frequent bursts of action and bloody violence (with a notable emphasis on eye trauma), culminating in a histrionic climax that’s simultaneously satisfying and silly. The basic story itself - a manhunt for someone wrongly accused - is nothing new, but it’s presented with a lot of flair and includes some unexpectedly affecting moments. However, the tacked-on denouement, presented as a title card, feels arbitrary and unnecessary. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - Running Away is an interview with director/co-writer Alfred Cheung; Predicting the Future is an interview/analysis with David West.

2 AUDIO COMMENTARIES - 1) By podcasters Kenneth Brorsson and Pjil Gillon; 2) By Frank Djeng and FJ DeSanto.

ALTERNATE ENDING - Pretty much the same as the original ending, minus one final scene.

HONG KONG TRAILER

REVERSIBLE COVER - With new and original artwork.

A Headbanger's Take on THE BENNY GOODMAN STORY

THE BENNY GOODMAN STORY (Blu-ray)

1956 / 117 min

Universal

Available HERE

Review by Mr. Paws😺

As a lifelong, card-carrying metalhead, it seems odd that I’ve recently become so enamored with swing music. I especially love the stuff from the 1930s & 40s, when the genre was at the height of its popularity and bandleaders like Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller were the rock stars of their day.

Goodman is a personal favorite. As a musician, he was to the clarinet what Jimmy Page is to the guitar…an uncompromising, innovative player who displayed jaw-dropping virtuosity and a keen ear for melody. None of the other guys in the Benny Goodman Orchestra were slouches either. And the more I listen to him, the more similarities I hear between his brand of “hot” music (as Goodman calls it) and metal epics by the likes of Iron Maiden, at least in terms of musical complexity. On the other hand, you can’t really dance to “Run to the Hills” (not sober, anyway).

If nothing else, The Benny Goodman Story is chock full of fantastic music, largely performed by Goodman and his band, some of whom play themselves in the film as well. However, Goodman himself is portrayed by Steve Allen, who convincingly apes the man’s clarinet skills, so when focusing on the music, the film is wonderful, both visually and sonically.

Benny's first groupie.

The rest is a fluffy guided tour of Goodman’s rise to stardom, facing little in the way of personal or professional conflict, as well as a growing romance with his manager’s sister, Alice (Donna Reed). The latter is superfluous but charming, and enables the film to conclude on a sweet note. Along the way, Goodman is depicted as congenial, earnest and dedicated to the music he loves (which, at the time, was regarded with contempt by musical snobs…kinda like rock & roll a few years later). 

In reality, Goodman was not easy to work with, nor always a pleasant guy to be around, meaning The Benny Goodman Story is probably not a very accurate portrayal of its subject. But who cares? The film is not-so-much a pure biography as a tribute to an incredible artist and the genre he helped popularize. Besides, Goodman was still alive and performed on the soundtrack, so of course this was never gonna be a warts-and-all bio. And to be honest, with all those toe-tapping musical performances, capped by a rousing rendition of “Sing, Sing, Sing” at Carnegie Hall, the film would be far less enjoyable if it was. Rock on, Benny!

JCVD Plays With Himself in DOUBLE IMPACT (4K)

DOUBLE IMPACT (4K UHD)

1991 / 110 min

MVD REWIND COLLECTION

Review by Mr. Bonnie, the Brainsmasher😼

Looking back at his lengthy filmography, it’s clear that Jean-Claude Van Damme’s favorite co-star is…Jean-Claude Van Damme. Giving ol’ Peter Sellers a run for his money, the Muscles from Brussels has played dual roles in no-less than four films, meaning he has shared the screen with himself more than any other actor he’s worked with.

1991’s Double Impact was the first of ‘em. He plays Alex and Chad Wagner, separated as babies after their wealthy parents were murdered by Hong Kong gangsters. Chad is raised in America by Dad’s former bodyguard, Frank Avery (Geoffrey Lewis), where he grows up to be a martial arts instructor. Alex, on the other hand, remains in Hong Kong, becoming a tough, streetwise smuggler. 

Chad learns about his twin when he and Frank go to Hong Kong, the latter informing both that they’re the proper heirs to their father’s tunnel project, which is currently under the control of Nigel Griffith (Alan Scarfe). Working with a Chinese triad, Griffith is also the man who had the Wagners’ parents murdered. So it’s payback time as Alan and Chad ultimately team up to go scorched-earth on Griffith and the gangsters.

Of course, we ain’t exactly talking The Corsican Brothers here (though Dumas’ novel was an apparent early inspiration). Double Impact largely coasts on the gimmick of two Van Dammes for the price of one. Other than that, it’s your usual revenge-fueled action fest, its perfunctory plot serving as a clothesline on which to hang gunfights, chases, roundhouse kicks and plenty of kaboom. Thrown in for good measure is a gratuitous, amusingly out-of-place sex scene between Van Damme and Alonna Shaw (on-hand to provide eye candy and be placed in peril).

"Aw...my wittle man has tummy twouble?"

While certainly no classic, Double Impact is fairly enjoyable. Stating the obvious, Van Damme has never been gifted with a lot of range (nor has he needed it), but does an adequate job establishing the distinctive personalities of each twin. He’s sometimes even kind of funny in scenes where Alex and Chad initially do not get along (a prerequisite for all buddy action movies). Elsewhere, the action scenes are handled with slick professionalism, offering plenty of opportunities for Van Damme and his favorite co-star to do their thing, which is ultimately why we pay our two bits in the first place. 

I’ll say this much…Double Impact may be little more than a B-movie guilty pleasure, but MVD has always done right by this one. It’s been previously released on Blu-ray with the same bounty of bonus features (the best being a feature-length retrospective documentary). Now it’s being given a 4K upgrade. Since I’m decidedly not a Van Damme completist, I can’t say whether or not the new transfer is a significant improvement, but overall, the film looks and sounds really good.

EXTRA KIBBLES

THE MAKING OF DOUBLE IMPACT - The best of the new bonus features, the two-part, feature length documentary is even longer than the film itself. Features plenty of interviews with the cast and crew, including director Sheldon Lettich and JCVD himself, who sometimes speaks nonsensically.

FEATURETTES - Anatomy of a Scene features director Sheldon Lettich discussing his favorite action sequence in the film; Double Impact Behind the Scenes is an archival making-of from 1991.

EPK INTERVIEWS & FILM CLIPS

B-ROLL CLIPS

MVD REWIND PROMO

MINI POSTER

TRAILER

4K UHD Giveaway: THE RUNNING MAN (SteelBook)

FREE KITTENS MOVIE GUIDE is giving away a 4K SteelBook copy of THE RUNNING MAN, courtesy of ALLIANCE ENTERTAINMENT and PARAMOUNT. 

From the novel by Stephen King and directed by Edgar Wright, The Running Man is a fun, unhinged deadly game show where contestants must survive 30 days while being hunted by professional assassins. 

TO ENTER:

Shoot us an email at freekittensmovieguide@gmail.com

Contest ends 3/15

U.S. Residents Only

THE RUNNING MAN Almost Goes the Distance

THE RUNNING MAN (4K UHD SteelBook)

2025 / 133 min

Paramount

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😼

Stephen King’s dystopian sci-fi novel, The Running Man, was my favorite of those he originally wrote under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. Gritty, brutal and exceedingly dark, I thought it would make a great movie. However, the 1987 version with Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn’t what I had in mind. Gleefully tossing damn near everything but the title, it was a garish, dumbed-down cartoon loaded with WWE glitz and plenty of Arnie’s eye-rolling one-liners. 

Sure, the movie is fun and still has a fanbase who embrace its kitchiness, but at the time, this was the biggest bastardization of a King story since Kubrick dug his mitts into The Shining. I walked out of the theater thinking The Running Man would still make a great movie…just not this one.

If nothing else, director/co-writer Edgar Wright has the right approach for the 2025 version, which is not-so-much a remake as another adaptation of the same source material. As such, it stays more faithful to the novel in terms of both the story, satiric elements and anti-authoriarian themes. And for the first two hours, this is The Running Man I’ve been waiting to see for 40 years. Too bad Wright doesn’t stick the landing. In fact, it’s more like a crash landing…the kind that leaves no survivors.

The Running Man depicts a dystopian future ruled by fascism, with nearly every aspect of daily life overseen by The Network, including televised entertainment created to placate the masses. Most programming consists of game shows in which financially desperate people have a chance to win cash by participating in dangerous (often fatal) competitions. The most popular one is The Running Man, where contestants win a billion dollars if they can stay on the run for 30 days without being killed by a squad of hunters, aided by an entire population who can also win cash for spotting contestants (or killing them themselves). 

One of those contestants is Ben Richards (Glen Powell), a married man who can’t hang onto a job due to “insubordination.” Desperate to provide real medicine for his sick daughter, he auditions for a show and is selected for The Running Man, mainly because producer Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) feels Ben's strength and anger issues will make great television. Despite the fact that no previous contestant has ever survived the full 30 days, Ben reluctantly agrees to participate.

The bulk of the film consists of Ben’s efforts to stay alive, made more challenging by the TV audience being manipulated into seeing him as an evil, violent man who deserves to die. He’s relentlessly pursued by the show’s masked star, Evan McCone (Lee Pace), and his hunters. Along the way, he’s assisted by some that want to see him go the distance, most notably those who are part of an underground resistance movement against the government. In addition to plenty of violent, explosive action, the film’s underlying themes are pretty timely, particularly those presenting the government controlled media as shamelessly manipulative (and not too far removed from what we’re experiencing in the real world right now). 

The selfie that launched a thousand restraining orders.

And up to a point, The Running Man is very entertaining and boosted considerably by Powell’s performance, who more-or-less embodies the Ben Richards I imagined when reading the book. Speaking of which, the film remains fairly faithful to the novel, if not always the plot, then definitely its spirit. Then there’s the climax. All I can say is…what happened? It’s one thing to make wholesale changes when adapting a novel into a film, which King fans should be used to by now. And I’m not necessarily opposed to such changes because films are a different medium than books, so I always remain open minded. After all, it was Frank Darabont (not King) who gave us one of horror’s most devastating endings with The Mist.

But without giving too much away, the climax of The Running Man is godawful, and straying from King’s original ending is the least of its sins. Not only is Wright’s conclusion unsatisfactory (and unnecessary), it hits us like a suckerpunch, presented in a way that totally negates the tone he worked so hard to achieve during the first two hours. It also happens to be really stupid, reflecting a rushed attempt to wrap things up with a denouement that plays more like an homage to the 1987 film than the novel it's based on.  

Until then, this is arguably the best adaptation of The Running Man that one can probably hope for. Despite its length, the film is fast-moving and boasts several impressive action sequences, as well as some amusing satire and a prevalent anti-authoritarian message (or warning?). Just be prepared to experience a bit of WTF whiplash during the climax. Or better yet, shut the damn thing off immediately after the airplane sequence (which King concluded his story with). 

For its home media release, Paramount has put together a great 4K/Blu-ray combo package featuring an excellent video and audio transfer for both formats, with vivid color, sharp detail and a booming Dolby Atmos track. The set also includes a big selection of interesting (sometimes pretty amusing) bonus features. The SteelBook release we reviewed boasts artwork that, if not particularly creative, at least reflects the movie’s overall vibe pretty effectively.

EXTRA KIBBLES

4K, BLU-RAY and DIGITAL COPIES (The 4K includes all of the bonus features listed below; the Blu-ray features selected ones).

FEATURETTES - The Hunt Begins features Edgar Wright discussing how he got involved; The Hunters and the Hunted showcases the cast & characters; Welcome to the Running Man: Designing the World is a look at the production design; Surviving the Game: Shooting The Running Man features a lot of on-set behind-the-scenes footage; Stunts Compilation; Hair, Make-up & Costume Tests.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By director/co-writer Edgar Wright, actor Glen Powell and co-writer Michael Bacall.

THE RUNNING MAN COMMERCIALS - Faux commercials as seen in the film.

SPEED THE WHEEL and THE AMERICANOS - Footage of the fake shows as seen in the film.

THE APOSTLE - Similar to the above-mentioned features, this is footage of the Apostle’s broadcasts.

DELETED/EXTENDED SCENES

TRAILERS

THE POOP SCOOP: Death From Above Edition

UPCOMING KIBBLES THAT MAKE US PURR!

Finally! BLUE THUNDER Limited Edition 4K Coming May 5 from Arrow Video. This tale of airborne surveillance and institutional overreach became a defining genre snapshot of Reagan-era anxiety, shot through with Hollywood muscle and a prescient distrust of unchecked technology. Roy Scheider (Jaws) stars as Frank Murphy, a veteran LAPD helicopter pilot picked to test-fly Blue Thunder, an experimental attack chopper bristling with unprecedented surveillance capabilities. When Murphy uncovers a covert plot to weaponize the aircraft for domestic policing, he takes to the skies in open rebellion. Hunted through the city by his own unit and shadowy government architects, Murphy’s final patrol becomes a white-knuckle fight for justice – and survival. Co-starring Warren Oates, Malcolm McDowell, and Candy Clark, Blue Thunder delivers heart-pounding suspense and sky-high stakes. A landmark of analog-age futurism, it remains a razor-sharp thrill ride that fires on all cylinders from beginning to end. Includes numerous new and archival bonus features.

GREENLAND on 4K March 31 from Lionsgate. A family fights for survival as a planet-killing comet races to Earth. John Garrity, his estranged wife Allison, and young son Nathan make a perilous journey to their only hope for sanctuary. Amid terrifying news accounts of cities around the world being leveled by the comet’s fragments, the Garritys experience the best and worst in humanity while they battle the increasing panic and lawlessness surrounding them. As the countdown to global apocalypse approaches zero, their incredible trek culminates in a desperate and last-minute flight to a possible safe haven.

THE SUBSTITUTE on 4K March 17 from Lionsgate.  In this action-thriller favorite, now on 4K for the first time, a mercenary faces off against one of his most formidable enemies: a high school gang. Shale (Tom Berenger) is an ex-Vietnam vet reeling from a botched covert operation. Returning home, he reunites with his girlfriend, Jane (Diane Venora), a high school teacher who’s hospitalized after a beating by the Kings of Destruction gang. Hunting Jane’s attackers, Shale goes undercover as a substitute teacher, and uncovers a cocaine highway running through the school involving gang leader Lacas (Marc Anthony) and the school’s shady principal, Rolle (Ernie Hudson). Summoning his mercenaries, Shale goes to war with the Kings of Destruction – and rival guns for hire – on the unusual battleground of a high school, but for the usual stakes: life…and death

THE BLACK BELLY OF THE TARANTULA on 4K and Blu-ray May 12 from Celluloid Dreams. This giallo classic will arrive in a beautiful slipbox that features the film, along with a vast array of bonus features that provide more insight into the film and its production than ever before. It is now available for preorder on the Celluloid Dreams website.

GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION on Blu-ray, 4K and DVD March 31 from Lionsgate. In the aftermath of a comet strike that devastates most of the Earth, GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION follows devoted family man John Garrity (Gerard Butler) and his wife and son (Morena Baccarin, Roman Griffin Davis) after they’re forced to leave the safety of their bunker in Greenland to search for a new home in a shattered world. 

THE HOUSEMAID on Blu-ray, 4K and DVD March 17 from Lionsgate. From director Paul Feig, the film plunges audiences into a twisted world where perfection is an illusion, and nothing is as it seems. What begins as a dream job quickly unravels into something far more dangerous.

The New ANACONDA on 4K and Blu-ray March 17 from Sony. Doug (Jack Black) and Griff (Paul Rudd) have been best friends since they were kids, and have always dreamed of remaking their all-time favorite movie: the cinematic "classic" Anaconda. But things get real when an actual giant anaconda appears, turning their comically chaotic movie set into a deadly situation. 

POINT BLANK Coming to 4K and Blu-ray April 21 from Criterion Collection. Free Kittens’ CEO bought himself an older Blu-ray copy of this action classic, then literally the next day, Criterion announces this release! In addition to a 4K restoration, this disc comes with a bunch of bonus features.

MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN on 4K and Blu-ray April 14 from Criterion Collection. Featuring ribald Roman puns, sharp political commentary, and an audacious crucifixion-themed musical number, the Pythons’ most ambitious film is a hilarious satire of dogma and blind faith in which nothing is sacred.

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON on Blu-ray, 4K and DVD March 24, 2026 from Criterion Collection. An epic elegy of greed, betrayal, and murder, Scorsese brings a dark chapter of American history to the screen with gripping narrative power and a profound feeling for the weight of systemic injustice.

TESTAMENT, on Blu-ray March 17 from Criterion Collection Taking a hauntingly intimate approach to an often sensationalized subject, the singular Testament depicts one family’s daily life in the wake of nuclear devastation.