An epic action blockbuster that deserved a summer release.
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In 1982, Stephen King released the novel The Running Man, set in the future 2025 where the world's economy is in shambles and America has become a totalitarian dystopia. It’s almost ironically prophetic that the actual year of 2025 we live in is hardly far off from fiction, and extremely timely for its second film adaptation to drop.
Directed by Edgar Wright who shares co-writing credit with Michael Bacall, The Running Man stars Glen Powell, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, Daniel Ezra, Jayme Lawson, Colman Domingo, and Josh Brolin.
This time set in an unspecified dystopian future, the film follows an unemployed Ben Richards (Powell), who’s financially desperate for his ailing daughter. Living in a time when game shows can earn you good money, Ben decides to audition for a spot, only to be placed to compete in the popular but deadly programme, 'The Running Man' – a competition that requires contestants (aka Runners) to survive 30 days while being hunted, with their every move broadcast on television. Incentivised by the cash reward, Ben reluctantly partakes.
It doesn’t take long for Ben to realise the game is rigged and everyone is just a cog in an evil corporation’s twisted machine, distorting truths to a narrative that only benefits them. It’s high time everyone learned reality shows are scripted and nothing we see should be taken at face value.
Ben’s grit and determination makes him a fan favourite to watch – a thorn in Network’s side but a martyr to the less-fortunate like him. Powell inhabits every frame of the film with his overflowing leading man aura and charisma that could give Tom Cruise a run for his money. He balances the demands of hard-hitting emotions and physical endurance with fiery tenacity, proving to be every bit the action star of his generation. Everyone else in the film merely exists to enhance his performance – from Cera living his Kevin McAllister dreams, to Domingo doing his best Caesar Flickerman as the flamboyant game show host, and Jones channeling her inner Karen – The Running Man is as much Glen Powell as he is The Running Man.
High-intensity and action-packed, this is a thriller that could raise one’s blood pressure but it takes a few stumbles when it lingers longer than it should in its “down time” moments. If anything, the breaks in between may increase audience exhaustion from waiting, more than it would a Runner running.
Wright’s adaptation is far more faithful to its source material than the 1987 version but this is where it gets foggy because there’s only so much he can do to make the film his own without many (if not any) changes. Thankfully, the skilled writer-director isn’t all lost in the sauce with his biggest studio film to date because we’d like to believe that he, like Ben, will not merely be a cog in a studio’s machine. It may be a Stephen King story once read and watched before but fans will love that Wright’s imprints are all over this.
When the stakes go up, the shit goes down. Run to your nearest cinema to catch The Running Man on the biggest screen possible now!
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