Logan's Run (1976)

Spoilers Ahead:

The first half of the film is a masterpiece. It is like opening your front door. You know, godless, lobotomized pagans seeking only pleasure controlled by computers? I love the criticism of it being phony? Yes, brainless, pleasure seeking zombies controlled by computers, Oh, how phony! Also, let the shopping mall setting go; where did you think High Noon was shot, in the Old West? The obsession with the crummy effects, move on it was forty years ago. We had these things called scripts, with character development better just go watch Tape Boy in Guardians Of The Galaxy again. This is for big people. I loved the first half, carousel, the runner, the control of age, infiltration of the sanctuary underground; we do not need age control the media destroys reason here. Also, they created video games to control the young, sadly, no need to lock them away. It is very well written and imaginative; then disaster strikes: They Go Outside. The theater I saw this in was packed to the rafters and kept everyone there, until they went outside. Then, the exodus began. At first one or two, then couples and finally groups.

They wander around outside supposedly Washington D.C. with the worst matte paintings you will ever see. Gee, who lived there? Fred Flintstone? This goes on forever until, finally, they run into poor Peter Ustinov and every cat at the local shelter. They hang out with the cats until Francis shows up and tries to kill everybody but the cats. After he dies, it turns into Logan's Run: The Game Show: 1. Where are your parents?, 2. Why did you get married?, 3. What is playing in the theater next door?. On and on, forever Boring!! This is when the exodus accelerated in the theater. Eventually, they decide to return to the city with the old man. I love the people lionizing the first use of hologram's in a movie during Logan's interrogation. This was never mentioned until it came out on home video. Look, the scene is awful. Do you really believe a supercomputer that ran that city for decades would blow up and meltdown just over an inconsistency in Logan's testimony? It is such a painful plot contrivance to free everyone and get them outside with the Old Man. It is like that bad original Star Trek episode where the crew acts goofy and melts down Harry Mudd's robots. Come on, how phony.

I still have a hypothesis about this movie. I think the screenwriter who did the first half died or had a nervous breakdown; they were forced to hire some freshman at the nearest film school to finish the movie. Have you ever seen this level of a disparity between two halves of a movie. Young people, watch the movie until they go outside and see the sun for the first time. Get up, take the disc out and watch something else. Do not say I didn't warn you!! By the time it ended, there were me and twelve other people out of hundreds. This movie died a slow but sure death at the box office when word of mouth spread that: 1. Farrah doesn't take her clothes off, 2. The second half sucks. A Mediocre Movie