The Running Man
Starring Glenn Powell, Colman Domingo and Josh Brolin
M
3.75/5
Based on the 1982 novel by Stephen King (previously adapted in 1987 with Arnold Schwarzenegger), The Running Man is a decently entertaining time but the weakest of this year’s many King movies.
In a totalitarian future United States, Ben Richards (Glenn Powell) signs up for The Running Man, a deadly game show in which contestants must survive on the run for thirty days.
Powell is an ever-likeable lead as Ben, and Colman Domingo is a supernova of charisma as Bobby T, the exuberant host of the Running Man show. The film’s bombastic first act establishes the severe poverty of much of the population and the miasma of commercialism and junky reality TV that keeps them in check, and the crass, gaudy atmosphere reminds me of Night City in the video game Cyberpunk 2077. The film’s highlight is a funny sequence of plucky revolutionary Elton Parrakis (Michael Cera) repelling Network troops with Home Alone-style traps, but the rest of the action is unmemorable.
The Running Man has a big problem managing time and magnitude. Ben lasts more than two weeks before striking back at the show’s organisers; this long timespan, which often jumps forward several days, drains the urgency somewhat. Josh Brolin is compelling as Dan Killian, the unassailably confident producer of the Running Man show, but Ben is effectively ordained for success as Dan exerts a Machiavellian control over every aspect of his journey. On some level, Ben is a pawn of the media machine even as he wins, but he has limited agency and the threats he faces have little to no impact anymore.
The Running Man has fun characters and intoxicating satire (especially in the first act), but never quite comes together as an action movie, and is playing in most Victorian cinemas.
– Seth Lukas Hynes
