In a near-future society, The Running Man is the top-rated show on television—a deadly competition where contestants, known as Runners, must survive 30 days while being hunted by professional assassins, with every move broadcast to a bloodthirsty public and each day bringing a greater cash reward.
Desperate to save his sick daughter, working-class Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is convinced by the show’s charming but ruthless producer, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), to enter the game as a last resort. But Ben’s defiance, instincts, and grit turn him into an unexpected fan favourite—and a threat to the entire system. As ratings skyrocket, so does the danger, and Ben must outwit not just the Hunters but a nation addicted to watching him fall.
Director Edgar Wright did it again, hitting the ground running. The pacing hits its stride at the beginning of The Running Man, setting up a reasonable story for Ben joining the competition. The middle part of the movie was where the excitement built up, but the back half felt stretched out. Ultimately, the sound design and explosions carried the thrill of this wild ride movie.
After recently seeing the original 1987 The Running Man film, led by Arnold Schwarzenegger, this was a very different experience. The modern take extracted the essence and messaging of the original but took a bit longer to get there. The overall production of this version was a thrilling ride, and felt like a real reality competition in the near future.
The strength of this modern take on The Running Man was the acting from Powell. He brought the heart to his character and managed to bounce off his fellow actors superbly, whether they were adult or child actors. Somehow, he brought a ferocious take to being a man easily tempered, which Schwarzenegger did not have in the original film. It was funny that Powell always ends up shirtless in many of his roles, showing off his abs and pecs. Arguably, Ben being shirtless in this movie’s context ramped up the stakes, though. So, he gets the pass on this one, versus him being shirtless in Twisters or Top Gun: Maverick.
“The strength of this modern take on The Running Man was the acting from Powell.”
Another aspect of this modern revitalization of The Running Man world was its establishment of rules that would work with current technology or technological means. Having every citizen be able to report the Runners was a smart idea in a world where almost everyone has a cell phone. Also, the 30-day survival rule was just a crazy enough goal to reach, on top of the Network rigging things.
One of the major mistakes was having a great physical actor like Lee Pace as the masked character, Chief McCone. He could have been more menacing without the mask, rather than hiding for an underbaked face reveal later on. Pace has done amazing work on Apple TV+’s Foundation and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Without his face present, it was unclear what tone the writers were going for by the time the final fight occurred.
Brolin was the second part of the villain team, and he brought his usual charming, conniving wit. He was okay for his part, but did not bring anything new to make him a menacing or unique villain. Colman Domingo, as the host and face of The Running Man, tried to salvage the entertainment factor from the villains with his sultry narration voice.
The Running Man significantly fell off with many of the lines and decisions Michael Cera’s character made. Without spoilers, his lines were laughable as they were cheesy and slightly cringeworthy. The decisions he made were even worse. He derailed the plot just for “fun.” That is never a good sign when a side character decides to do something just because they can do it. It also stalled plot progression for a kind of cool Home Alone set piece. It was like the writers and Wright did not know how to get to the set piece and forgot to use logic.
This fresh reimagining of The Running Man felt like a project shoved in the slow cooker, and they accidentally left the film cooking too long. The messaging became mixed in the sauce of the resistance, while Ben tried to earn money to save his sick daughter. While the highs in The Running Man were high, the lows felt very low, dragging out jokes or adding fluff to what could have been a tighter story. Those looking for a great action, one-person army film could thoroughly enjoy this one better in a 4DX experience.
