Plato's Run (1997 Video) User Reviews

This 'B' Film Needed Some Lulls

[ccthemovieman-1 · 4/10 · 6 July 2006]

I'll say one thing about this film: there are no lulls. You can't get bored watching this. The problem is that it is TOO intense. There is too much action and it NEEDS lulls! That is the risk you take in modern action films. You want it interesting but not overdone. This is way overdone.

Even though the acting is fine and features a couple of "names" in Gary Busey and Roy Scheider, it still has the feel of a "B" film. The best part of it is Scheider's dialog: the only "A" part of this "B" film.

The rest of the story is strictly Rambo mentality but did have a few standout scenes. One in particular was a very innovative scene featuring land mines. That was memorable. Not enough of the other scenes were to make this a keeper for long.

The rundown on Plato...

[fmarkland32 · 5/10 · 12 April 2007]

Gary Busey,Steven Bauer and Jeff Speakman star as three mercenaries who become entangled into a complicated assassination attempt that is set up by Roy Scheider, so after Scheider kidnaps Busey's daughter it's one man army time. Gary Busey is back in his Bulletproof type days as Busey is the lead action star and does shoots all kinds of people in this mediocre potboiler. Plato's Run is pretty much what you would expect from the cast, which is that it's dumb, has lots of action, bad acting and Busey running around looking drunk. There always was something about the presence of Gary Busey that made him a cultural icon, or at least an icon in the B.movie world and for fans of Gary, Plato's Run offers up guilty pleasure not seen since Bulletproof and we all know that with the puffy Busey, puffy Speakman and the still slender Bauer that this is a personification of what a B.movie throwaway is. If anything else it's worth it just to see Busey and Bauer try and escape a landmine trap as a cackling over the top Scheider lies the ham on thick.

* * out of 4-(Fair)

The plot is unnecessarily complicated.

[tarbosh22000 · 4/10 · 20 February 2020]

Plato Smith (Busey), along with his fellow former-Navy SEAL buddies Sam (Bauer) and Dominick (Speakman), are just, to paraphrase both this movie, as well as the song by Ensiferum, "warriors without a war". That all changes when a mysterious woman named Marta (Warden) enlists Plato and Sam to go to Cuba and extract the son of a powerful crime boss. At first they refuse, of course, but then they decide that the money is too good, especially because Plato's business is failing and he's going to be evicted from his house. Since Plato is trying to repair his relationship with his daughter Kathy (Myatt), it seems like a good move.

Of course, the job isn't as cut-and-dry as it seems, and soon Plato is on the run because he was framed for the murder of said crime boss. Additionally, the REAL power behind the scenes, dastardly arms dealer Alex Senarkian (Scheider) is now testing/using/shipping mines all over the world and even has a mine testing facility at a secret, evil compound.

Things go from bad to worse when Kathy is kidnapped and Sam and Plato are trapped in the testing facility. With only their wits, and outside help from Dominick, will they be able to escape their doom. Will this be Plato's last run?

Not to be confused with Hitman's Run (1999) or Da Vinci's War (1993), Plato's Run is not exactly a movie you'd put at the top of your "to watch" list. To be fair, it's better than Busey's Warriors (1994), and about on par with the other Busey-Scheider team-up, The Rage (1997). It all starts promisingly enough - the power trio of Busey, Bauer, and Speakman are in a Florida bar and almost apropos of nothing, a very silly barfight ensues. But then it slows down and it all becomes a bit more standard.





Yes, there are action scenes with shooting, blow-ups, beat-ups and the like. And while the movie is shot well, and it's all very clear, somehow something is missing. Bauer and Busey had good chemistry together, which was all well and good, but the movie needed more Speakman. Certainly it needed more Speakman Martial Arts.

The plot is unnecessarily complicated. It should have been the big boss, Senarkian, sending out waves of baddies for our triumvirate of heroes to beat up. Instead, it gets bogged down with other things such as land mines, Busey running around a lot, and plot intrigue. The central baddie of Scheider can't hold all that together.

Of course, we should have suspected all this because we knew two things going in: It's a Nu-Image movie from 1997, and the director, James Becket, also made Ulterior Motives (1993). For those who may not remember, that's the unfortunate Thomas Ian Griffith outing that somehow manages to botch the idea of TIG wielding a samurai sword. But that was Becket's first movie. He should have picked up a few tricks by the time of Plato's Run. It seems he did not, which is a shame.

Despite some well-placed humor, and the fact that the ingredients are all there for a successful DTV actioner, Plato's Run, if we're going to be brutally honest, is video store shelf-filler. We're always looking for titles that rise above that sort of station, but, unfortunately, despite its good points, Plato's Run doesn't do that.

what did you really expect?

[Nick_Dets · 17 July 2005]

Ah, the 90's Gary Busey action adventure. The gritting teeth, the "EEE-YA!"'s , the goofy shirts, the oddly motivated aggression, the insanity! He always looks like he's having a great time...so, why can't we? This movie, as well as countless other Busey actioners, is classic unintentional fun. So do I give it a bad review because it is so laughably bad or a good one because its so fun to make fun of with friends? I guess the vote should accurately determine the quality of the movie and quite obviously that's not very high. So I gave it an extra star on the 1-10 scale.

The story involves some kind of military kidnapping of Busey's daughter. The mastermind behind this is Roy Schneider, who's droopy face looks like its melting plastic. Hmmm, real life symbolism of how the action picture is melting.

Anyway, Busey is a real treat to watch. His growling and his crazy lines are genuinely hilarious. The direction is complete trash. The action scenes, ludicrous to begin with, are awkwardly directed. If you can't have fun with a bad movie, don't bother renting it.

A Low-budget Actioner & Roy Scheider is a Movie Legend.

[lukem-52760 · 5/10 · 6 December 2021]

Pleasantly surprised by this direct-to-video B-movie Action flick starring one of my all time favourite actors ever-ROY SCHEIDER.

First off i checked this out because of Roy Scheider, I've been a fan since little & watching Jaws & Jaws 2, but not only is the great screen presence Scheider good here in his role-playing an evil corrupted weapons company boss, we also get a decent performance from 90's star Gary Busey (Under Siege, Predator 2, Point Break) as the leader of a small team of Mercenaries along with 90's direct-to-video Action star Jeff Speakman (Street Knight) & an Awesome Steven Bauer (Scarface) who have Plato's back all the way. Plato Smith is of course played by the manic Gary Busey & he's having so much fun as the leader of his pack here.

Actually we need more action stars like Gary Busey because Busey is an average "Dadbod" type of man & not a ridiculously ripped-to-shredds bodybuilding meat head & i love him for that. Busey has been a big part of some of the best films from our childhoods as he stole the show in Point Break (way better character & actor than bland Keanu Reeves) & was a Classic villain in the Cop CLASSIC Lethal Weapon & was such a crazy & intense presence in the Classic sequel PREDATOR 2. Busey has been in so many films when you think back & he's always excellent.

Plato & his crew are sent on a mission to rescue some escapee prisoners from a tough Cubin prison but are double crossed & Plato is framed for the murder & is on the run. I loved the sweaty Miami setting that's full of sunshine & the action is pretty much non-stop with lots of chases & gun fights but what stands out is the fine chemistry between Plato & his two loyal buddies.

Roy Scheider is very good at playing a slimy villain even if it was probably such an easy paycheck for him at that time in his later career.

All in all Plato's Run is a fun & action-packed little B-movie, it's definitely not great but it's an easy watching typical direct-to-video action film.

I also liked the 90's look of the film.

It's okay.

[pmtelefon · 5/10 · 6 April 2019]

Sometimes a nice low budget action movie hits the spot. Throw in a nice cast and it makes for an easy watch. "Plato's Run" is an easy watch. It's just not a real good one. It's okay. Gary Busey does a nice job. The rest of the cast is pretty good. I am a big fan of early Roy Scheider but I find older, facelifty Roy Scheider a bit hard to take. I don't want to be mean but older Scheider always seems that if he showed any emotion his face will crack. "Plato's Run" moves fast but runs out of steam after a while.

i liked it

[ghostman16 · 10/10 · 2 April 2007]

Plato's run is an entertaining b movie with Gary Busey.it is a fairly unknown film so one i saw it at a car boot i thought this looks entertaining i was right to.Gary Busey plays Plato smith a tough mercenary who is framed for the assassination of a powerful Cuban crime lord now on the run Plato must survive long enough to prove his innocence with the help of his friends played by Steve Bauer (scarface) and action star Jeff Speaksman (the expert). what i liked about Plato's run was the way the film never got boring the plot may have been done before but it was still good the acting was fun to watch and the action was quite fun as well especially the climax Gary Busey makes a good hero ironic since he normally plays the bad guy and Steve Bauer is good as Plato's sidekick even Jeff Speaksman makes a good performance and he cant even act well to finish it of Plato's run is an enjoyable effort from nu image films and i give it 7 out of 10

A Fun Watch, In Spite Of A Weak Script

[jguz58 · 6/10 · 13 August 2016]

A great cast of characters makes up for the script, but this isn't a film I could watch very often.

I've always found Gary Busey to be a very watchable actor. I enjoy his quirky approach to his characters and his sense of humor. It's the reason I've seen quite a few of his films. Here he's teamed with some actors I hadn't seen for quite a while, like Steven Bauer (Scarface) and Jeff Speakman (The Perfect Weapon). And they do a great job with a script that's got a weak plot point regarding the bad guy and at times some poorly written dialog. The script is weak enough that I'm surprised to see a top-notch actor like Roy Scheider associated with it. But all in all, the film is a fun way to kill some time. Especially if you like lovely babes, guns and explosions.

Why do they keep making these movies!?! And why do I keep watching them!?!

[millennia-2 · 4 February 2001]

'Plato's Run' isn't just bad, it's disgustingly awful. Not disgusting, but disgustingly awful. That's right folks, this movie sucked. OK, think for a minute here, why does these independent video labels keep making movie after movie, with the same cast, same plot, same twists, same everything. I know, I know, they're B movies that aren't meant to be taken seriously, but why oh why are there so many of them? They really can't make that much money, and are hardly much fun to watch. Well, I suppose that's kind of a lie there, they're a ton of fun to make fun of, but... it's two hours of my life which I'll never get back again.

And the sad thing is that there are these actors, many of them good actors, that will probably be stuck doing these low budget actioners forever. Roy Scheider for instance... he was nominated for a couple of Academy Awards way back when, had a series of high profile hits (2010, Jaws), then made a wrong turn somewhere along, and got stuck doing movies like this. Same with Gary Busey. Steven Bauer looks like he's found a way out if he can hold onto roles like the one he has in 'Traffic', but Jeff Speakman and the rest probably don't have a lot on their side.

First let's start with the plot. Actually, let's not. There isn't much of one, and you already know it by now, even if you've never heard of this movie. The technical values are pretty lackluster, even for a B flick like this one, the direction is really sub standard and the cinematography is nothing to write home about.

Unless you're a die hard Busey fan, this shouldn't be watched by anyone

1/10

Should have walked before running

[DEPRESSEDcherry · 6/10 · 25 October 2019]

Passable 90's action that's worth a look for Gary Busey alone but, also has a decent supporting cast. The movie throws alot at you and in the end nothing really sticks. The land mine scene is an interesting idea but unfortunately not fully exploited. Has some odd editing moments as well.

Awe, Too Bad It Couldn't Have ended better!

[DomNickson843 · 3 February 2015]

Spoiler Alert!!!

OK first off the only reason I watched this film was for Jeff Speakman. He played his part well until the very end. And by very end I mean the very end. I'm so disappointed he survived a grenade explosion only for him to die at the hands of two of Roy Scheider's men! I would of also loved the entire film a lot more if Jeff had a way bigger role because he was only in it for the beginning scene and isn't in it again until the end battle. I also wish the film showed some more hand to hand combat action I mean I felt like we as an audience get enough of that today I would of loved to see some more of Jeff's Kempo techniques. LOL and I'll always wonder what Gary Busey's character said to Jeff's character's family in this. But over all I think it was a really great action packed, suspenseful movie. It's a 7 out of 10.