Runaway Train is a film out of control. At its best, it is a cold and brutal depiction of life in a maximum security prison; at its worst, it is a bungled parable on the futility of escape.

Escape for hardened criminals Manny (Jon Voight) and Buck (Eric Roberts) means an elusive shot at freedom, but Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky tries to instill their quest with deeper significance. He seems bent on driving home his parallel vision of a society out of control, and neither the script nor the actors fare well under the weight of his noble intentions....