The Running Man is a loud, tense, action piece that literally left me exhausted after viewing. In a good way, I promise.
The film takes a straightforward approach to the 1982 Stephen King story. Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is a family man who lives in the slums. Ben can’t hold down a job, and he and his wife (Jayme Lawson) can’t afford healthcare to treat their two-year-old daughter, sick from the flu. Ben goes to the Network (a propaganda TV station), tries out for a game show, and is placed in “The Running Man,” a game that offers one billion “new dollars” if you can stay alive for 30 days. After swearing to his wife that he won’t go on the show, Ben is given a signing bonus by producer Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) that will get his baby healthcare. Ben will be chased by The Hunters, assisted by reports from average citizens. No one has ever won the game.
Ben figures he will just hide out at a fancy hotel, but quickly realizes that isn’t possible when The Hunters show up. This turns into a pattern: he finds a place to hide for a little bit, then is interrupted by gunshots, explosions, and, of course, running. In between, we discover that the producer is evil and the show is rigged. (No surprises there.)
The action sequences are really the strong point of this film. There are a lot of explosions, innumerable gunshots, and fun booby traps going off every which way. These sequences are plentiful, lengthy, and generally the high points of the film. Periodically there are quieter bits to give the audience a chance to catch their breath for a minute.
The politics of this film are brutal. Healthcare is a large issue in this film, or perhaps it just feels this way because of our current political struggle. But there is also the caste system, the way the government is set up to harm those in the lower strata of society, and the terrifying tech that can track people. A plea to Washington insiders: Do not show this movie to the president; it very well could turbo-charge his worst impulses, and unlike many recent public briefings, it’s diverting enough to keep him awake.
Glen Powell, continuing his sprint to leading-man status, is fine in his role. Yet he suffers from a faintly underlying blandness that keeps his performance just short of spectacular. Some might disagree, especially during a beefy scene in which Powell climbs a building wearing nothing but a towel.
The star of the film, to me, is Colman Domingo, playing Bobby T., the host of “The Running Man” show — a role that has to have an edge to match Richard Dawson’s acidicly self-parodying take in the original 1987 adaptation. Boisterous, fun, and with an amazing wardrobe, Colman is a joy to watch. On the less-fun side, Josh Brolin portrays the evil producer in a grounded manner that feels way too close to the truth. Katy O’Brian (the beautifully androgynous star of Love Lies Bleeding) and sharply nerdy Martin Herlihy play Laughlin and Tim, the two other contestants in “The Running Man.” While both have funny moments in the film, I was disappointed that their roles were too easily sidelined.
Edgar Wright, of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy and Baby Driver fame, remains a brilliant director, but some fans will miss the gleeful zaniness of his earlier works. There is little about The Running Man that stands out as an Edgar Wright film – other than the exhausting action. As with the latter half of Last Night in Soho, Wright can be overly thorough. Normally I wouldn’t discuss the ending of a film in a review, but (and you know the drill — spoiler alert) the film seemed to be a little bit unsure of how it should end: if Ben should live or die; if he was the hero of the story or if he would be seen as a different kind of villain.
Among the details Wright gets right are some fun Easter eggs. Look for Arnold Schwarzenegger, who starred in the 1987 version of The Running Man, on the “new dollars.” Stephen King fans will recognize that part of the film is set in Derry, Maine — though it doesn’t look anything like the Derry I know from the It franchise.
Despite my complaints, I genuinely enjoyed The Running Man. It was funny and had a lot of action, and sometimes, that is all you need to be entertained.
