Runaway Train (1985) KL 1080p BluRay x265 HEVC AAC-SARTRE

Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky's second American film may well be the only existential adventure flick in Hollywood history. Two prisoners, Manny (Jon Voight) and Buck (Eric Roberts), escape from a desolate Alaskan maximum-security facility. They hop aboard a speeding train, making a clean escape. But the engineer has suffered a heart attack, and the train goes out of control. To prevent a disastrous head-on collision, the railroad heads decide to derail the runaway train, killing its occupants to save the lives of hundreds of others. Once Manny catches on to what's happening, he tries to jump off the train, only to be talked out of such a foolhardy act by railroad employee Sara (Rebecca DeMornay). As doom approaches, Manny apparently goes mad, viciously preventing any attempts to stop the train or rescue its passengers: if he's to die, and if the others are to be saved, it will be on his terms, or no terms. Runaway Train was slated as a project for Akira Kurosawa in 1970, but for various creative and scheduling reasons, it remained on the back burner for 15 years.

Extras

• Trailer - vintage trailer for Runaway Train.

• Radio Spots - a couple of vintage radio spots for Runaway Train.

• Trailers From Hell - a short commentary by director Rod Lurie (The Last Castle, The Contender), who quickly addresses the distribution history of Runaway Train, the Akira Kurosawa connection, and the cast.

• Commentary - this audio commentary was recorded by star Eric Roberts and critics David Del Valle and C. Courtney Joyner. Roberts shares plenty of information about the shooting of the film in Alaska and the rewriting of the original screenplay (as well as Akira Kurosawa's connection), the casting of Danny Trejo for the boxing match, Jon Voight's performance and the shooting of the action footage, the Oscar nominations, etc. It is an awesome, extremely informative commentary, so if you like the film please find the time to listen to it in its entirety. I guarantee you will enjoy it.