Sometime in the 23rd century...
the survivors of war, overpopulation and pollution
are living in a great domed city, sealed away from the
forgotten world outside. Here, in an ecologically balanced world,
mankind lives only for pleasure,
free by the servo-mechanisms which provide everything.
There's just one catch:
Life must end at thirty unless reborn in the fiery ritual of Carousel.
I just finished watching a Sci-Fi gem; Logan's Run. I'd seen and heard references to it for a while now and I saw that Bryan Singer of X-Men and Superman Returns is planning a remake so I thought I had better check it out. I must say that I loved it. Here is a synopsis:
Its the 23rd Century and the world is in a state of decay and ruin. In order to avoid its perils, a civilization has created a huge dome that keeps them safe from the outside world. They live in this Utopia with only one purpose; pleasure. In order to maintain this Utopia and prevent overpopulation, the inhabitants must obey one rule. When they turn 30, they must take their chances and enter Arcade. It is in Arcade that they will either die or renew. Those who choose to Run, rather than take their chances in Arcade, are pursued by the Sandmen. A Sandman's job is to chase the runners and kill.
Logan 5 is a Sandman. He is 25 and has five years of pleasure left in his life. He is confident that when he turns 30, he will go to Arcade and will not die, but will renew.
However, when he receives a special mission from the computer, things change. Logan 5 is told of an under ground railroad type group that helps runners escape to a place called Sanctuary. The computer assigns Logan 5 the task of infiltrating Sanctuary and killing all those who ran. In order to do this, he must run himself. The computer makes changes to the internal system that monitors age and these changes show that Logan 5 is of age. After Logan accepts the assignment, he asks if he will get his five years back after completing the mission. When the computer does not answer, Logan has a change of heart and decides that he needs to find Sanctuary, not to kill them, but to hide with them.Not only is this movie great because of its story, but you will enjoy the amazing special effects. They will actually make you laugh pretty hard. The view of the city scape under the dome is the best. It couldn't be more obvious that it is a model and at times it looks like they made the city out of old shoe boxes and toilet paper roles. If you enjoy old Sci Fi stuff, you'll really enjoy Logan's Run.
Be warned. The same guy who gave Sixteen Candles a PG rating probably was assigned Logan's Run as well. There is even more nudity and has the same rating.
So, Cblakes, will you run or will you try for renewal?
What would you do?
6 comments:
sounds fantastic! i'm adding it to my netflix. Thanks Spencer!
Logan's Run rocks! I also love the "Making of" feature on the DVD. It's funny to hear them talk about the groundbreaking special effects and huge scope of the picture.
Do you know if it's an adaptation of a novel? It definitely feels a lot like 1984 and The Giver.
P.S. I've decided to run. Someone please take care of Emily, Mary and Ben.
Yes- I also loved watching that special feature and hearing how ground breaking the special effects were. I bet they felt stupid when Star Wars came out about a year later.
I had read that it was originally a book. I've also read that though the premise is the same, the book and movie are much different. From what I've read about the remake that they are planning, the remake should be a lot closer to the events in the book.
and I'm honored I made the title of one of your posts. And to be tied into a story on Logan's Run is great.
Darth Spencer,
I was excited to see that Logan's Run was one of your posts. I remember watching this film on the then novel invention of a laptop computer. Cblakes had just purchased a laptop with DVD capabilities so we watched Logan's Run to celebrate.
If I remember right, my favorite part is when Logan and his woman are escaping through an icy chamber and, in order to escape an immanent icy doom, they both have to take off their clothes. I still dont know why their clothes had to come off--seems they would have been warmer with them on, but I guess there are a lot of things about the 70's that confuse me.
On a different note, I have a few suggestions if you want to see some old, classic sci-fi.
This week I watched a Japanese film from the 50's called The Mysterians. It is great because it is done in the fervor of the Godzilla craze (i.e. radioactivity is the fear and "things from the sky" bring disaster), but there are also hints of WWII appeasment policy (all that the aliens want is 3 square kilometers and five human women).
I also like the film "Colossus, the Forbin Project." The history of this film is that it was a multi-million dollar film that was made at the same time as 2001. The makers of Colossus realized that 2001 had them totally outclassed, so they stuck Colossus on the shelves for a couple of years before releasing it. The funniest part, though, is the visual editing of the film. If you liked that one commercial of a naked family picnicing, where the objects in the foreground block out the nudity, then you will appreciate the mise en scene of Colossus.
Diomedes-
I'm glad that you also enjoyed that part. I laughed pretty hard and thought about the same thing. I think that Logan was just slick and figured out a way to get this hot shiggy's clothes off. Its so random. He just says out of no where, "we better get these clothes off." Then in the very next scene he says, "lets get going," and they put them back on and take off. I guess its just one of the things that makes this movie so great.
I'll look into the other movies per your suggestion.
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