Runaway

You'll hear repeatedly from actors that its more fun for them to play the villain in a film than the good guy, their able to break out more in the character's development and explore aspects of a characters psyche that normally wouldn't be available to them. Here we're given a straightforward good guy/bad guy story that doesn't have any blurred lines, from an author and director that knows just what's needed in a science fiction story, Michael Crichton. With two strong actors in the lead roles, Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons, we're given a glimpse into the good/evil personas in a pair of classic characters.
A police robotics expert is beginning to see a pattern in the "Runaway" calls that he's getting, but when it's discovered that an evil doctor is reprogramming the robots the killing starts in earnest. For an 80s sci-fi film the effects aren't to bad, Crichton keeps everything within the realm of possibility so that the audience can believe that what their watching could be happening tomorrow. Almost everything that the audience is exposed to in the story has a feeling of the here and now, so when different incidences happen the audience is left thinking "that this might be a possible." Using the classic theme of machines gone bad gives the story, and the movie, an air of familiarity but with enough of a twist, whether its characters or situations, that it seems new and inventive.
The best part of this film is Simmons as Luthor, the command that he has of the character is superb and it's a shame that he only did a handful of movies and didn't continue on with an acting career. The role of Ramsey could have been filled by anyone but with Selleck in there they drew on his popularity from the Magnum, P.I. series. All in all it's fun and enjoyable and its not set to far into the future that you feel disconnected with the characters.