The Running Man
A more faithful adaptation to the original Stephen King story than the 1987 film, albeit ignoring King's far more tragic end which punctuated the hopelessness of a future that looks more possible with every passing day, director Edgar Wright's version of The Running Man casts Glen Powell as down-on-his-luck blacklisted worker Ben Richards. In desperate need of medication for his sick daughter, Richards signs up to partake in the world's most popular game show.
Released into the world with two other runners, Richards must survive for 30 days in order to win the grand prize of $1,000,000,000. Where the 87 movie gave us a game zone and colorful stalkers, the new film offers armies of faceless stormtroopers and bland hunters who are helped by normal citizens calling in tips on Richards' location for quick cash. If they choose, those citizens may also attempt to take down a runner on their own for bigger prizes.
It's odd to compare an Edgar Wright movie and find it less stylized than the other film but that's certainly the case here. While the new version certainly uses technology to its advantage in terms of the drone cameras and deep fakes, it's far less crazy and stylized than the original. The best moments of the new film are during the early moments of Richards' run, but as that stretches on the film gets a bit lost and mired in social commentary without the wit and wackiness of the original to smooth over natural lulls in the narrative.
While the original film had revolutionaries in place who help the hero get his revenge, the new film gives us a conspiracy podcaster (Daniel Ezra) and an even crazier conspiracy nut (Michael Cera). Cera's appearance is definitely a highlight, one of the few times the film leans heavily into letting things get bonkers, but it's also the last real excitement of the film leading to a relatively anti-climactic climax forcing an epilogue to do the heavy lifting in closing out the film.
Splitting up The Running Man gameshow host between producer Josh Brolin and on-air host Colman Domingo, neither of whom match the performance of Richard Dawson (which, to be fair, was some of the most inspired casting of all-time), muddies the water a bit in terms of allowing a singular main villain to weave the corporate narrative to the masses.
As to the masses, while we see Richards earning some respect outside the studio we never see the on-air audience turn on the hunters during Richards's run, except when enticed to do so, which is all the more awkward given the Richards needs to be the singular spark to trigger a grand revolution.
Powell is fine in the role of angry family man fighting to stay alive. It's certainly easier for someone of his size to blend into regular day-to-day life than Schwarzenegger, but that also means we get long stretches of the film where that's all he is doing as the action stalls until Richards is found by the completely forgettable hunters (led by Lee Pace in what might be the weakest reveal in the history of cinema). We also get Jayme Lawson as Richards' wife, Katy O'Brian and Martin Herlihy as the other runners, and Emilia Jones as a dumb rich twentysomething who Richards preaches the truth to in sequences that are neither long enough to properly explore these themes and far too long to stop the film from stalling.
The 2025 version is different enough from the 1987 version to be worth exploring. And, as an action flick, it's a fine one-time movie experience. However, it's not nearly as entertaining as, and far more forgettable than, Arnold Schwarzenegger's version which continues to entertain more than 35 years later.
- Title: The Running Ma (2025)
- IMDb: link
