The Running Man

In 2017, following a worldwide economic collapse and resource scarcity, the USA has become a totalitarian police state. The government maintains control through propaganda and censorship of unsanctioned art, music, and communication. The state-controlled broadcaster ICS runs the nation's most popular program, "The Running Man," a game show in which prisoners can earn their freedom by surviving as "runners" against lethal "stalkers". Captain Ben Richards is arrested after refusing orders to open fire on an unarmed food riot in Bakersfield. His fellow officers massacre the rioters and frame Richards for the incident, branding him the "Butcher of Bakersfield". Eighteen months later, Richards escapes from a prison labor camp with resistance fighters Harold Weiss and William Laughlin. They ask him to join their cause, but Richards declines, focused only on surviving. Richards travels to his brother's former apartment but discovers that ICS composer Amber Mendez now lives there after his brother was taken for "re-education". Richards forces Amber to help him bypass airport security, but thinking he is the "Butcher", she alerts the authorities. After his capture, Amber sees news reports falsely claiming that Richards murdered people during the incident and begins to doubt his guilt. Damon Killian, host of The Running Man, approaches Richards hoping to use his notoriety to revive the show's ratings. He threatens to send the recaptured Weiss and Laughlin into the game unless Richards agrees to participate. As the show begins, Killian betrays Richards by sending him, Weiss, and Laughlin into the game zone—an abandoned section of L.A.—via rocket sleds. The group is hunted by Subzero, a hockey-themed stalker whom Richards kills, marking the first time a runner has ever killed a stalker. Meanwhile, Amber is caught retrieving the uncut Bakersfield footage and is sent into the zone. Killian sends in two more stalkers—the chainsaw-wielding Buzzsaw and the electricity-shooting Dynamo. Richards kills Buzzsaw, though Laughlin is fatally wounded. Elsewhere, Weiss discovers that the satellite uplink controlling government broadcasts is located inside the zone, and he cracks the access code for Amber to memorize before Dynamo kills him. Richards incapacitates Dynamo but refuses to kill him while he is defenseless, shocking the audience. When Killian secretly offers Richards a job as a stalker, Richards angrily refuses. Amber later finds the corpses of the show's past "winners", realizing their victories were fabricated, and Richards kills the flamethrower-wielding Fireball. The audience begins cheering for Richards. Richards and Amber are found by resistance leader Mic and taken to their command center. Killian tries to force retired stalker Captain Freedom to fight Richards, but he refuses unless he can fight him honorably. ICS instead fabricates footage showing Freedom killing Richards and Amber. Seeing this broadcast, Richards realizes that the government must ensure they are never seen alive again. Using the satellite uplink codes, Mic transmits an exposé revealing Killian's and the government's lies, including the unedited Bakersfield footage, while Richards leads resistance fighters in a takeover of ICS to prevent the broadcast from being shut down. The resistance battles ICS security forces as the studio audience flees. Dynamo attempts to rape Amber, but she activates the sprinkler system, electrocuting him. Richards confronts Killian, forces him into a rocket sled, and sends him into the game zone, where the uncontrolled vehicle crashes and explodes, killing him. Richards and Amber kiss as the crowd celebrates, and the broadcast goes offline.

Plot from The Running Man (1987 film)CC BY-SA 4.0