CineBad!!!

This is just such a fantastic movie in so many ways. Imagine a subterranean paradise whose inhabitants enjoy good food, uninhibited sex and free plastic surgery. Then, at the age of 30, they spontaneously combust, in a ritual the City dwellers call “Carousel.” That is, except for those individuals who decide to make a “run” for the surface.

Logan is a bounty hunter who’s sent on a secret mission to infiltrate the runners’ “underground railroad.” Logan’s bosses set his “Life Clock” (the tiny crystal embedded in his palm) blinking, so that it looks as if he’s about to turn 30. He falls in with Jessica, a runner, and she shows him the back way out of the city. Pretty soon the cops catch up with them, and Logan’s supposed to turn her in. But as Logan finds himself being chased by the very people he works for, his feelings begin to change. So he and Jessica set off for adventure, encountering along the way a giant murderous robot who looks like Mrs. Butterworth and a poorly-acted old man who somehow manages to tie the plot together.

Logan’s Run is a prime example of the classic moralistic sci-fi movie. Each scene is packed full of oh-so-subtle commentary on the state of modern living, right down to the plastic surgery boutique. And like so many sci-fi films of its decade, the scenery bears a suspicious resemblance to an enormous shopping mall…

It’s really hard to say what is the best part of this movie. It could be the futuristic set complete with giant rotating hand. Or it could be the sight of so many cloaked 30-year-olds rising to their fiery deaths in a giant popcorn popper. This is definitely one for the time capsule.