The Running Man (2025) - A Guest Review by Chad Dixon

As a big Arnie fan, of course I've seen the 1987 film adaptation of the novel by Stephen King which amazingly is set in 2025. As a result, I was always going to be thinking of that when I first heard that there was a remake on the cards. British Director Edgar Wright (The Cornetto Trilogy), brings this version to the big screen now and is also it's Producer and co-writer. Here, the USA has become an anarchistic police state ruled by greedy corporate media networks. Most people are living in poverty with little or no access to affordable healthcare. So absolutely not a realistic timeline at all!

Trapped in the Boston slums and with few prospects, Ben Richards (Glen Powell), is a blue collar worker, with a very sick two year old daughter, struggling to make ends meet. He is currently blacklisted so cannot get a job and buy the precious influenza medicine his child desperately needs. His wife, Sheila (Jayme Lawson), is a hostess at a posh gentlemen's club but although working more shifts than she'd care to, is not making enough money on her own to support the family. At home the next day, a demoralised Ben is watching TV game shows and notes down all the possible prize monies on offer.

When Sheila finally comes home after another extended shift, Ben says he knows how to get the family out of poverty and goes to the big network building in the the city centre to queue up and try out to be on one of the many extreme game shows with determination to win the money that they need. After the many extensive grueling tryouts, a couple of other hopefuls and Ben are taken to meet slick Executive Producer Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), to be offered the chance to play in the biggest and most popular game show on TV. After much persuasion from Killian and against the wishes of Sheila, Ben signs up to be a contestant in The Running Man. The premise of which is, if successfully evading the Hunters for 30 days, a grand prize of $1 Billion is the ultimate offer!

In the original Schwarzenegger version, the scope was much smaller as all the action was more gladiatorial and took place in pre-arranged arenas. Here, there are no boundaries as Ben's evasion from the Hunters takes us all over the city and beyond, with good use of current unusual architectural locations to backdrop the futuristic dystopian cityscapes. I got well invested from the very beginning as there's no long buildup to establish the family's situation. The set pieces are well choreographed and keep the core of the film moving at a nice pace. But even though the 2 hour and 13 minute runtime seemed a tad long, I did feel a bit let down in the final act as it seemed a little hurried leading to a fairly disappointing resolution.

However, Glen Powell definitely meets the criteria of 'Leading Man' as the camera laps up his big screen persona. One is definitely swept along throughout, empathising with his struggle. There's a few other good supporting roles of note too. Colman Domingo as the charismatic showman host Bobby T in the studio is effervescent. William H Macy as Ben's first ally, Molie, gives a solid, down to earth performance and Michael Cera (almost unrecognisable with a grizzly goatee), as the kooky rebellious sympathiser that Ben encounters later on.

Ultimately I think this is one of the better remakes/updates of a 1980's science fiction action film that I've seen recently. Although I really couldn't tell you if Edgar Wright has placed his discernable stamp on it, no doubt Glen Powell will get more roles as a rugged, intrepid leading man - so it looks very much like his mentor, Tom Cruise, seems to have done a good job.