THE RUNNING MAN

Director
Edgar Wright

Starring
Glen Powell
Josh Brolin
Lee Pace

In the dystopian future of 2025, the US economy is in shambles, poverty is widespread, and the country is being ruled by a totalitarian force. The only way to really escape this fate is by taking part in highly skewed televised gameshows, where people suffer significant injury or death for public amusement. With Ben Richards [Powell] out of work and desperate to provide for his sick daughter, he enlists in the most deadly contest: The Running Man. The longer he can evade capture, the more he earns, and if he goes the full 30 days, he stands to make one billion new dollars. If he can go the full 30 days with the entire country hunting him down, that is.

We can all acknowledge the 1987 adaptation may be a bit of fun but it was underfunded schlock, and the original book deserved a more ambitious release. And with that in mind, there’s a direct parallel that can be drawn with The Long Walk which came out a few months ago. Both are Richard Bachman stories (Stephen King’s pen name) about authoritarian rule squeezing the struggling public for televised consumption. And while they are both aptly timed (considering these late 70s/early 80s dystopias all too easily reflect our own current wealth imbalance) there are several alterations that both help and hinder each respective release. Granted, giving us a more accurate and faithful adaptation makes the overall narrative much more engaging, but the execution is so hollow and some of the corrections over-steer to give a satisfying close, that it sullies what should be an incredibly poignant release.

From a technical standpoint, there’s a lot to like. The production design, the cinematography, the sound work – all these components bring this near-future alternate reality to life in a credible way. To the extent, it’s not difficult to picture this heightened hellscape as an eventuality for our own sorry state of affairs. But what’s most curious is that Edgar Wright’s sometimes heavy-handed directorial flare is largely neutered here. Sure, we get rapid-cut flourishes and glimpses of his signature style, but overall The Running Man feels repackaged and hyper processed. As if the studio or executives have had a firm grip on the edit to ensure a more marketable and digestible release. In fact, if you weren’t told this was an Edgar Wright feature, you likely wouldn’t be able to ascertain that independently.

But what of the lead? Putting the book to one side for a moment, the general public’s association with this story is with prime burly Arnold Schwarzenegger. So how does Glen Powell weigh up in comparison? Well, he feels like a charmless protagonist constructed by committee. We are repeatedly told that Ben Richards is a righteous man but he’s presented as such a hot head, that he just comes off as irresponsible, easily manipulated, and quite dumb. And to counter this, every chance the script gets, they shoehorn a few lines to make him more redeemable and heroic. Case in point, while he’s being assessed, we’re given a montage of selflessness, despite him being labelled “the angriest man to ever audition for this show.” And this attempt to keep him both semi-likeable and some machismo ball of fury, is constantly at odds. In one scene, he’ll spare someone’s life because he refuses to kill for entertainment purposes, only to then blow them up a few moments later. Rather than an interesting conflict of circumstance, it comes off as indecisive, poor writing.

And, regrettably, the supporting roles are just as muddled. On the one hand, we have Josh Brolin as the unscrupulous network producer who is solely concerned with chasing ratings, Colman Domingo as the dispassionate corporate stooge who hosts the show, and Lee Pace as he head of the elite hunters, Evan McCone. And while these characters have a strong presence throughout, they are the most unforgiving, two dimensional roles. Lee Pace is probably the most developed and interesting to explore but he simply isn’t given much to sink his teeth into. Then, on the other hand, you have the various citizens that Ben encounters throughout his evasion, but most end up disposable caricatures. Not only because Ben doesn’t stay in one place for long, but the time spent with each feels rushed and undercooked. Prime examples being Elton Parrakis, played by Michael Cera who is a rebel and super-prepper, but his competence is undercut by his insane mother being a massive liability – lazily written off with “Oh, don’t worry, she won’t see you”. All so we can get a fairly middling Home Alone sequence. And by the time well-off civilian Amelia [Emilia Jones] turns up and is “taken hostage,” all suspense has evaporated, leaving us with a change of heart and perspective that feel entirely forced and undeserved.

The truth is, Wright doesn’t feel like a good fit for this movie. In terms of the message, the tone, and the significance, his fast-paced action beats and undercutting with comedy are woefully mismatched. So much so, that there’s no legitimate sense of pacing or dread; the whole movie feels like it could have taken place in a night or two, not a month. And despite wanting to make the scale grander, it ends up just as corridored as the 1987 version. Subsequently, on paper, The Running Man should be a home run. A dark science fiction parable that resonates with a disenfranchised and neglected public, earning its place as a feature on the pulse of the zeitgeist. But instead, it’s a forgettable, fairly empty, mass-marketable release that fails to really speak to anyone.

Release Date:
14 November 2025

The Scene To Look Out For:
**spoilers within this paragraph**
We need to talk about the ending. In typical Stephen King dystopian fashion, it doesn’t end well for Ben. In the book there’s a gruesome sacrifice that results in his death, as well as that of the producer, but also the somewhat ambiguous sense of growing resistance from the general public. The idea that a line has been crossed and people have woken up to the horrors of what is actually happening. This adaptation doesn’t really have that. It goes through the motions, but that aforementioned slaloming away from anything miserable or uncomfortable fully takes hold. So instead of crashing the plane into the network tower, Ben is shot down by missiles. Except this abruptly cuts to a frankly rushed montage close in the form of a YouTuber style video hosted by one of Ben’s former allies. But thanks to several nightmare visions and fake-outs to undercut the tension, it only serves to highlight the noncommittal bad writing on display.

Notable Characters:
There are several lacking characters throughout this film but I want to briefly highlight Ben’s wife, Sheila [Jayme Lawson]. Wright is notorious for not knowing how to handle female characters, and when paired with a Stephen King story, that is only magnified. When first introduced to Ben, she could easily be a deceased character. And sterilising the version from the book only makes her an even more mature presence that calls further attention to Ben’s recklessness.

Highlighted Quote:
“You think you’re the guy who stops me from seeing my daughter again?”

In A Few Words:
“A perfectly timed story in the hands of a completely ill-fitting cast and crew.”

Total Score: 2/5

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