RUNNING MAN, THE
(director/writer: Edgar Wright; screenwriters: Michael Bacall,
based on Stephen King’s novel The Running Man; cinematographer: Chung-hoon Chung; editor:
Paul Machliss; music: Steven Price; cast:
Glen Powell (Ben Richards), Sienna Benn (Cathy Richards), Alyssa Benn (Cathy Richards), William H. Macy
(Molie), Colman Domingo (Bobby T Thompson), Josh Brolin
(Dan Killian), Lee Pace (Evan McCone), Michael Cera
(Elton Perrakis), Emilia Jones (Amelia Williams, realtor), Daniel Ezra (Bradley), Jayme Lawson (Sheila), Sean Hayes
(Gary Greenbacks), Katy O’Brian (Jenni LaughlinVictoria Parrakis); Runtime: 133; MPAA Rating: R; producers:
Simon Kinberg, Nira Park, Edgar Wright; Paramount Pictures; 2025-UK/USA)
“A glorified video game.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
This is a glorified video game and not really a Hollywood film. It plays out as a satirical sci-fi thriller about a desperate man who becomes a contestant on a deadly government-run reality TV show because he needs the money and chooses to ignore the risks he must take to win. It’s based on Stephen King’s 1982 novel The Running Man that was previously filmed in 1987 and starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. King penned it under the alias of Richard Bachman. It was a futuristic film set in 2025. Writer-director Edgar Wright (“Baby Driver”/”The World’s End”) and co-writer Michael Bacall update it and keep it moving along with lots of mindless chases and set it in 2025.
The arrogant 35-year-old working stiff with a hot-temper, Ben Richards (Glen Powell), lives in a dystopian America run by an impersonal corporation. He’s fired for insubordination as a ‘whistle blower’ reporting unsafe working conditions at the site of his low-level government job at the Defense Net workplace and is blacklisted. His family must rely on the low income of his waitress wife Sheila (Jayme Lawson), who works at a seedy men’s club, to pay for the expensive medicines needed by their ailing 2-year-old daughter (Alyssa Benn) who is battling a serious flu epidemic sweeping the country.
The family live in the fictional East Coast’s Co-Op city.
To try and remedy his dire financial situation Ben goes on the hit reality TV show The Running Man, where he can win a billion dollars in prize money if he can go on the run across America or anywhere in the world and survive for 30 days professional killers from an organization called the Hunters, who will be pursuing him. The leader of the Hunters is the marksman, the masked man named McCone (Lee Pace). So far there have been no survivors to collect the prize money, but the ratings are high for the morally debased TV show.
This contest is unethical but at least if it’s done fairly, it’s an opportunity for the risk-taker to become wealthy. But the TV execs of the show, the sadistic slick studio host Bobby T Thompson (Colman Domingo) and the devious behind the scenes producer Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), do not play fair. The host gives Ben a bad name by calling him out while announcing the game show and the producer makes fake AI videos showing Ben in a bad light. This influences the audience to root against any of the contestants.
A live TV audience watches the chase in the studio while a TV audience watches at home. There are cheers or jeers at every move made in the chase by the viewers.
The other contestants with Ben are quickly eliminated–the hedonist queer Jenni (Katy O’Brian) and the loser wacko Tim Jansky (Martin Herlihy).
Ben evades the Hunters traveling by train to NYC, then to Boston and finally to Derry, Maine.
Ben’s aided in his survival bid with disguises by the old-timer anarchist Molie (William H. Macy) and fake IDs by the revolutionist Bradley (Daniel Ezra), and a safe house and weapons by the radical from Derry named Elton (Michael Cera).
The story is senseless and Glen Powell’s lead performance is exasperating. Despite all the gore and action, it was still a drag.
REVIEWED ON 11/18/2025 GRADE: C
dennisschwartzreviews.com