The Running Man review: A solid action movie that falls down at the final hurdle
I love most of Edgar Wright‘s films, from Shaun of the Dead to Hot Fuzz and Baby Driver. Making a new version of The Running Man was something of a passion project for him, and while I’m glad he got to make it, I think his voice and visual flair got lost due to the scale of this action movie.
Set in a dystopian future where the U.S. is an authoritarian police state run by the Network, the film follows Ben Richards (Glen Powell), a father who can’t find work after being blacklisted by his employers for insubordination. With no money and a sick daughter, Ben reluctantly signs up for The Running Man, a deadly game show where contestants must last 30 days out in the wild to win the $1 billion cash prize. The only obstacles standing in their way are the Network’s Hunters, civilian wannabe Hunters, and the general public ratting out their location for money. No big deal!
Wright’s version is not a remake of the 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger but a second adaptation of Stephen King‘s book of the same name. It is significantly more faithful to the novel than the previous version and actually sticks to the plot very closely, with the exception of the ending. The film suffers when it tries to forge a new path and diverges from the source material. While I appreciate that King’s novel has a very bleak ending and Wright perhaps wanted something less politically charged, the final act is weak, messy and underwhelming after what had been a solid, entertaining action movie.
Powell has been positioned as the new Tom Cruise and while I think he still needs to prove those credentials, he does have the action chops. He really throws himself into the stunts and does as many of them as possible, from lots of running (of course), jumping off a bridge and scaling the wall of a building half-naked. He is working hard for that title and he will earn it eventually. I didn’t completely buy Ben’s anger and resentment towards the machine – Powell is too much of a nice guy – but he delivers on the action front and that’s where it matters most.
He is surrounded by an amazing supporting cast, my favourites being Colman Domingo as the charismatic show host Bobby T, Josh Brolin as the smarmy Network boss Dan Killian and Michael Cera as Elton Parrakis, a quirky rebel who helps Ben. Cera, reuniting with his Scott Pilgrim director, isn’t in this for very long but he makes a huge impact as a man who has been prepping for the revolution for a long time. There are many great action sequences, but the scenes inside his house were my favourites. I also want to give a shout-out to Katy O’Brian for being awesome always and Lee Pace for looking damn cool as a masked Hunter named Evan McCone.
It’s a shame Wright didn’t inject more of his personality or cinematic hallmarks into The Running Man. Besides a couple of music choices and the fun Elton Parrakis sequence, the film is an action movie that could have been made by anybody. When you’ve created a style for yourself, your fans want to see it!
The movie is quite weak as far as dystopian stories go, and it falls down at the final hurdle, but it is overall an entertaining blockbuster with a committed performance from Powell and memorable turns from his support cast.
In cinemas now