Run, Logan, Run!

OK, let's rewind back to 1976, before even the original Star Wars came out. I did, 'cause I just picked up Logan's Run on DVD. Now, when I bought this disc, I had the distinct feeling that most likely it'd mainly be worth having just for the nostalgia value. I was extremely fond of this movie when I was a teenager. It was one of those films that seemed to run about once a year or so on one cable channel or another, and I would generally make a point of watching it when it was on and always enjoyed it tremendously. But, you know, a lot of the stuff I liked as a kid now strikes me as rather embarrassingly cheesy, and the strongest memories I had of Logan were of things like the insane robot ("Good things from the sea!") and the shooting lasers from the murderous face-lift machine, which don't necessarily resonate with associations of high-quality cinema, really.

Imagine my surprise to realize that I actually did have some excellent taste, even as a kid. Because Logan's Run is a really good movie. It's very multi-layered, with a lot of subtle thematic and character stuff mixed in quite seamlessly with the action. Amazingly enough, it's also good science fiction, with very well-thought-out and carefully executed world-building. That isn't something you see very much these days, where "sci-fi" mainly seems to equate in people's minds with "mindless action blockbuster," which to my mind is a damned shame. Visually, it holds up really well, too, which is simply pleasant icing on the cake.

Of course, it's entirely possible that this particular movie holds an entirely different signficance for me at age 30 than it did at age 15... If anything, I'd say I probably appreciate it more now that the ol' palm's started blinking red. "Renew! Renew!"