1987’s ‘The Running Man’, a sci-fi vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger, was a slick, cartoonish spectacle, probably most renowned for being an eerily accurate predictor for what would soon become reality entertainment.
2025’s version of ‘The Running Man’, a star vehicle for Glen Powell, an equally ambitious but significantly more grim take on Stephen King’s novel, will probably hit with audiences for being an eerily accurate representation OF our current reality.
Fun but disturbingly plausible, ‘The Running Man’ takes place in a dystopian America, soiled by economic collapse and rising fascism. The plot has Ben Richards (Powell), a former factory worker who lost his job for calling out his employer over dangerous conditions, applying to appear on a state-sanctioned reality show called ‘The Running Man’ in order to save his ailing daughter. The hitch is, no contestant survives ‘The Running Man’….at least, none on record. A cast of government appointed assassins hunt the contestants over a thirty day period. If Ben survives, he wins a fortune.
Naturally, ‘The Running Man’ is the dominant show on television, with the general public encouraged to cheer on the ‘hunters’ as they track down Ben and his fellow running mates, a cast the network villainizes and paints as lowlife criminals. Like the original with Schwarzenegger, that’s as far from the truth as you can get – and it’s only through a series of daring escapes and showdowns with the hunters that it becomes clear with the audience who the REAL hero of the game is, prompting the media executives, led by a slimy Josh Brolin, to especially turn up the heat on Richards.
Director Edgar Wright (‘Shaun of the Dead’, ‘Baby Driver’) might stray a bit from his comfort zone with this futuristic thriller, but he’s from out of his element; his film ‘Scott Pilgrim V.S. The World’ suggested the kind of frantic energy Wright is capable of delivering, an absolute prerequisite for a film like ‘The Running Man’. Powell, who has hinted time and time again (‘Anything But You’, ‘Twisters’ and his scene stealing work as Tom Cruise’s adversary in ‘Top Gun 2’) that he’s ready to ascend to the ranks of Hollywood superstar, delivers big time here as well. Some viewers, overwhelmed with 80’s nostalgia, might prefer the 1987 film, if no other reason than the tone is lighter. I take no issue with that.
But me? I prefer the dark edge this one brings. Wright, Powell and company take all the action, mash it with a dose of foreboding doom, and run with it. Beautiful!