Logan’s Run (1976)
After the moon landing in 1969, Hollywood saw a wave of science fiction films. Reading about “Logan’s Run” (1976), made during this period, piqued my curiosity. The film revolves around a familiar theme of humans living in a self-contained environment, controlled by an all-knowing computer, far removed from nature’s unpredictability. Sadly, the film fails to impress. Even acknowledging that this movie was made nearly fifty years ago, it feels overly familiar and lacks surprises in its depiction of a ‘utopian’ world or its imagined gadgets. As a result, while not a terrible watch, it earns only a Mangoidiots Raw rating.
Spoiler Alert:
Set in the year 2274, humans live inside enclosed domes, isolated from nature. Everyone is artificially bred and allowed to live until 30; those who try to avoid ‘renewal’ by that age are eliminated by a special force called Sandmen. Our hero, Logan, is one of these Sandmen, but he becomes attracted to a rebel named Jessica. Tasked with finding the rebels, known as runners, outside the dome, Logan and Jessica partner up. What follows is their story.
Watching “Logan’s Run” (1976), you can’t help but admire how hard the technicians of that pre-CGI era must have worked to visualize and create a futuristic world with pods running inside tubes across the city and teleportation machines. Michael York and Jenny Agutter delivered solid performances. Jenny ‘s character ‘Jessica’ was quite progressive for the time. In this future world, women have their rights-they can say NO even if a powerful Sandman calls. Additionally, the film’s portrays a futuristic society where homosexuality is accepted and normalized is evident in Logan’s straightforward inquiry about Jessica’s lack of romantic interest. However, the screenplay leaves many loose ends: how does the world function, who governs it, what do people do for a living, who manufactures the goods, is there any money, and why is everyone content with being killed at 30? The ease with which the lead pair escapes to the outside world makes one wonder why no one else had tried it before. And what exactly does the all-knowing computer want Logan to achieve by finding the sanctuary?
While “Logan’s Run” captures some intriguing ideas, it ultimately leaves too many questions unanswered and fails to deliver a truly compelling story.
Originally published at https://venkatarangan.com on July 23, 2024.
