Film Review: ‘The Running Man’ is an Entertaining and Even More Timely Take on the Stephen King Story

Making a dystopian science fiction thriller is not necessarily what you’d peg as a project for Edgar Wright. Moreover, you don’t immediately connect him with either a new Stephen King adaptation or a take on an 80s Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle. Yet, despite that, Wright is able to make The Running Man feel exactly like something that makes sense for him. Armed with a movie star turn at its core, as well as a strong sense of anger and satire, this is a real satisfying blockbuster.

The Running Man aligns itself more with the King source material (which he wrote under his old pseudonym Richard Bachman) than it does the original Schwarzenegger flick, but it finds a timeliness these days that’s as disturbing as it is recognizable. Additionally, it’s evidence that Glen Powell is a real A-list movie star. His charisma and talent shine through, even when the scope gets large enough to potentially have swallowed him up. Instead, Powell’s star just glows brighter.

In the near future, society has turned even more into a world of the haves and the have nots. One struggling member of the latter class is Ben Richards (Powell), just fired from another job that doesn’t pay the bills. Ben has a temper that gets him into trouble, though everything he does is for his wife Sheila (Jayme Lawson) and their sick young daughter. In this world, the only way for the poor to really make any money is on violent game shows, with the most profitable, yet deadliest, being The Running Man. There, a contestant has 30 days to evade professional assassins, winning money along the way, while the world watches (and reports their whereabouts). Ben has no interest and Sheila warns him not to do it, but the promise of enough money to get his family out of the slums is too much to resist. Convinced by the show’s charming yet ruthless producer Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) of his ability to defy the odds and win, Ben signs up.

After surviving for a bit, Ben starts to become a fan favorite, due to his grit and instincts for survival, as well as his defiance of the system. That in turn has the show’s host Bobby T (Colman Domingo) villainizing him, while Killian plots how to make it all work for the network. At the same time, society is starting to rebel, with revolutionaries like Elton Parrakis (Michael Cera) helping Ben along the way. By the end, it’s not just whether he can make it the 30 days, especially when lead hunter Evan McCone (Lee Pace) becomes focused in on him, but whether society will go into open revolt.

Glen Powell turns in a high star wattage performance, never receding into the background of the action or effects. Powell gives Ben a personality full of rage, but even so, the charm is always there. It’s a fun action hero that has a unique sensibility, which is in short supply. Colman Domingo gets to have fun as the preening host of the show, while Josh Brolin plays a fairly stock villain, though one he rightly makes incredibly hatable. Jayme Lawson and Lee Pace are under-used, though Michael Cera makes the most of his extended sequence, also managing to have a lot of fun. Supporting players here include a wasted Emilia Jones, as well as Daniel Ezra, Karl Glusman, Sean Hayes, Martin Herlihy, William H. Macy, Katy O’Brian, and more.

Filmmaker Edgar Wright directs the movie, which he co-wrote with Michael Bacall, with glee. It’s not the style of his Cornetto Trilogy, to be sure, but outside of Scott Pilgrim vs the World, this is the first studio film he’s done that feels like his own. Now, the most Wright’s style feels intact is before the final bits of the flick, but this is a definite good match for his sensibilities. Wright’s direction is very solid and keeps things pretty well paced, complete with some real strong images from cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung, as well as an arresting score from composer Steven Price. Plus, hitching his wagon to a star like Glen Powell sure pays off. Bacall and Wright lean into the timeliness of the satire, especially early on, though the third act is wobblier, with a weak ending/final section. It’s not enough to derail things, but the good times do somewhat slow down before you’d like them to.

The Running Man is a larger scale work than Edgar Wright has done before, as well as bigger than the original film, but it still has the rebellious spirit of Stephen King’s original source material. All three versions of the story work well in concert with each other, which does not happen too often. This movie is unlikely to blow you away, but for effective and entertaining blockbuster cinema-going, complete with a movie star at its center, you can’t go wrong here.

SCORE: ★★★