Logan's Run - Blu-ray Review

Details: By Loron Hays; 26 April 2010

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</script></div>{/googleAds}"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, freed by the servo-mechanisms which provide everything. There's just one catch: Life must end at thirty unless reborn in the fiery ritual of Carrousel."

Ah, the '70s preamble something sorely missed in these days of greed-driven trilogies and unnecessary two-part conclusions to fan-obsessed stories. It is with this that Logan's Run now on blu-ray begins; a preamble that immediately clues you in to the atmosphere and themes of the sci-fi narrative. While different from the original source material, director Michael Anderson (Around the World in 80 Days and The Shoes of the Fisherman) brings a post-apocalyptic setting to a story that inspired two novel sequels (Logan's World and Logan's Search) and a season long TV show, as well as a legion of madder-than-Twilight-Tweenies fans.

Starring Michael York as Logan 5 and Richard Jordan as Francis 7; both friends are classified as Sandmen (officers assigned to capture Runners who refuse to attend Carrousel at the end of their thirty years). Their friendship; however, becomes strained when Logan is given a secret assignment from a computer after a Runner's belongings namely an ankh - are scanned into the database. His private assignment from Sandman Headquarters means he must join forces with Jessica 6 (Jenny Agutter), after discussing why it is wrong to run, and, in a twist from the norm he preaches, become a Runner and search for Sanctuary outside of the confines of their home; a series of scenes eerily familiar if not straight-up robbed from Planet of the Apes.

Yes, its tone is campy and all its logic driven discussion are not designed for the ADHD-impaired audiences of the home theater world. To get through the walk-and-talk nature of the film the philosophical bent on euthanasia and the multiple discussions of man's own work might even require a few breaks from even the most patient of folks; however, Logan's Run remains an intelligent and fantastical romp through the future in a world dominated by machines and a race of humans who live for pleasure only. It sounds like the modern world except it has no interest in the machines surrounding the environment of Logan's Run, it concerns itself with only logic.

Yes, Logan's Run is the Diet Rite equivalent to a can of Arthur C. Clarke cola. It always has been; it assumes, it projects upon its audience, and it never gives a clear reason why the events happen to Logan 5, but that's part of its campy nature a nature some viewers and critics can't or won't forgive. I mean, the performances are cracker-like stale and, for all the talk of logic throughout the movie, you'll find very little of it on-screen through its actions and even less in the special effects of the film. What saves it is its place in film history as the precursor to Star Wars, the score by Jerry Goldsmith and its legion of fans that found inspiration sometime ago in 23rd century of its Make Believe landscape.