Logan's Run [Blu-ray] [1976]

I remember this movie with it's well written storyline from some time ago. It's a movie you will not so quickly forget, with it's color and special effects and a very interesting story. You'll be cheering to the end of the movie. Well worth seeing!

I saw this film at the cinema in 1976 when it was released. At the time I thought it was amazing. It stars Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Richard Jordan, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Farrah Fawcett-Majors. It takes place in 2274 after many disasters have driven people into a large Domed city. People live in a carefree hedonistic utopia where all of their needs are taken care of by computerized machines. Theres just one catch. You can't live past the age of 30. On your thirtieth birthday, you must Renew. That means being killed by high energy Lasers, only the people don't know this. If you don't renew and decide to become a runner, you are chased down and killed by Sandmen(York and Jordan). A series of events takes York and Agutter from the city to the outside remnants of Washington D.C. where they meet Old Man played by Peter Ustinov. If you want to know what really happens next watch the film.

This film is a favorite of mine and is the best I have ever seen it. The Blu-ray is well done- colors are vibrant, people and objects are sharply defined and sound is very good. I am very pleased with this new Blu-ray upgrade. This sci-fi film still holds up well in my view. There is no CGI, but that is fine. The director, technicians, and crew had to use their wits and special creative skills to create the scary world of tomorrow where death comes to all on the carousel at the age of thirty! The people in the film believe that they have a chance to be "renewed" and live again. However, the computer that runs the whole city and controls the carousel is really killing all of the people who have reached the age of thirty. The computer controls every aspect of the people's lives- even reproduction as well as life and death. Michael York is a "Sandman"- a policeman who kills all "runners" on orders from the computerized system. He is designated to find what the runners call "Sanctuary"- which is supposedly outside their domed city. The trip out into the sunlight and the ruins of Washington, D.C. is interesting and well done from a cinematic point of view. The whole film is well done. Acting and direction are all excellent. Peter Ustinov was super as the old man! It was very good for me to see this old favorite film again. I recommend it to all people who want a sci-fi action drama that will also make you think.

Not a lot of movies these days trust in the intelligence of its audience. Logan's Run takes that leap: it doesn't overexplain the mechanics of its world. It drops you into the thick of things, and through the eyes of a Sandman, lets you discover along with him the truth and fiction of a world made entirely of young people. The film presents its sci-fi effects gleefully like a proud child. Some are dazzling like the "Carrousel" scene, with the multicolor audience and Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatics. Some...haven't aged as well, but maintain a level of charming cheese as you watch what is definitely a toy monorail model buzz through its mini scenery. The characters are also good...enough. Logan 6's motivations do seem odd and hard to completely follow (his genuine conversion to sympathize with runners occurs under our noses), and Jessica's curiosity and conspicuous independence from the beginning seem to dissipate until she's basically just Logan's female companion. But Michael York and Jessica Agutter are fine actors and sell the adventure anyway. (Farah Fawcett on the other hand...what was that about? Who decided to make her character a monosyllabic airhead caught in the headlights?)

This film was great as a kid, a little dated now but still pretty cool after all these years. Blu-ray has a decent transfer and audio, no more than expected from this film. A couple of bonus features but pretty much bare bones, worth $5 though!

I absolutely adore this flick. I saw it many years ago on my birthday for the first time and fell in love with it. Now I try to make a habit of watching it every year on or very close to my birthday. I've heard rumors of a remake...I'd love to see it happen and have Michael York come back to play the Old Man in the remake, that would be an awesome round robin connection tying the two together in some way.

Sci-Fi movies in the 1970s dealt mainly with dystopian visions of Earth's future rather than the "space Western" themes of the Star Trek and Star Wars movies of the 1980s and since. Logan's Run is one of the best of these dark movies -- presenting one vision of the consequences of environmental degradation. Sadly, the warnings in this film were then, and still are, ignored by the powers that be. This Blu-Ray DVD crisply brings out the 70s look.

Very futuristic for its' time, interesting ideas, now seems a little dated though, mostly because of the sameness of 70s tech in the futuristic movies, and also because of the movie's central premise that life ends at 30.