Run for your life and, if you survive, get a billion dollars! Although this sci-fi action thriller takes place in a dystopian near future, it could be nearer than you think. Glenn Powell (Hit Man, Top Gun: Maverick) in this film will have you catching YOUR breath. Powell fits the bill because he’s so fit, exuding relentless energy. He’s a bad ass. He did 99.9% of his stunts, and they are never ending. He jumps, dives, tunnels, even scales a building wearing nothing but a towel and, of course, keeps running to exhaustion. Don’t blink your eyes, you may miss something.
Director Edgar Wright (Baby Driver, Last Night in Soho) has wanted to do this film for decades and wrote it with Michael Bacall (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World). But Wright was apprehensive because it’s an adaptation based on the novel Stephen King wrote under his pen name Richard Bachman in 1982. That became the 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the “Butcher of Bakersfield.” This adaptation sticks more to King’s book. But Wright had trepidations because he knew King was not happy with Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of King’s novel The Shining.
Ben Richards (Powell) desperately needs money for his wife and very sick daughter. We found their relationship lacking emotion for his wife Sheila, (Jayme Lawson) and daughter the weakest part of the story. There are no strong female characters, as you’ll see another named Amelia (Emilia Jones) in the last act. Ben’s very smart and tries to do the right thing. Actor Powell’s demeanor is usually very congenial with a big smile, but not here. He’s fighting for his family, but knows there’s a slim chance for winning so they can live together in peace again. No one has ever survived this deadly game.
Ben has a lot to be upset about and this is Wright’s place to show the societal problems. There’s all kinds of back lash for government, state of family life, disease, and health care. Ben lost his job sticking up for fellow workers and was blackballed. He’s perpetually enraged and any provocation sets him off. He’s mad as hell.
Richards is tapped to fight for survival as a contestant in the TV game show called “The Running Man” while hundreds of hi-tech assassins track his every move LIVE for the gladiator style studio and virtual audience. This is Squid Game meets Hunger Games plus! And he has to keep running in locations around the world for 30 days! His biggest challenge is trying to stay out of the line of fire from lead lethal hunter Evan McCone (Lee Pace). Wright restores King’s character of McCone from the book in this film as Mr. calm and cool, who continually shows up to take out Ben no matter where he shows up.
The villain pulling the strings in this film is Dan Killian, the blood thirsty CEO of “The Network” that created the reality show. This game for big money is merciless trying to hunt and kill people for entertainment. No one has ever won, and he sees this desperate man with anger issues as the perfect contestant.
Bobby T. Thompson (Colman Domingo) is the smooth-talking, smarmy, and glitzy hyped-up emcee who is great at inciting the crowd to a frenzy. He gets them all worked up so they’ll stay tuned to see how long Ben and two other contestants are going to last. Colman is effective with his flashy, silver, or sequined wardrobe and big grinning smile, he knows how to push the viewers over the limit, especially when they see stacks of big bills on display. There’s a cheeky reference to the original film as the face seen on the bills is the original Running Man, Schwarzenegger.
Wright uses old retro technology to make a point about individual privacy. You’re always being watched, and so is The Running Man. There are cameras all around and smaller round drones that are feeding visuals of Richards wherever he is, to Killian, the studio audience and viewers every second. The CEO likes what he sees and tries to up the ante as Ben keeps advancing in the game.
Ben goes for help from carmudgeonly friend Molie Jernigan (William H. Macy) who has tech equipment that could help on the run. Wright uses dystopian cityscapes with old-school tech and cathode-ray-tube TVs, VHS cassettes for his retro-futurist approach. Underground tinkerer, Molie tells Ben, “These TVs don’t watch you back,” showing they’re safer in this authoritarian state.
Then he finds sympathetic Revel Elton Parrakis (Michael Cera), a crazy but resourceful resistor who has outfitted his house as one big booby trap against the pursuers. He’s waiting for just the right occasion to unleash it on assassins like those hunting Ben. Let that game begin. There’s trouble but Parrakis becomes an ally trying to outsmart the hunters as they both go on the run. The longer Ben continues to cheat death, the public sentiment changes starting to root for him. It’s getting more and more dangerous, but Ben keeps beating the odds. That prompts ecstatic Killian (Brolin) to engage Ben in conversation to try and cut an even more evil deal. What does he want now?
In Wright’s depiction of this deadly dystopian assassin TV show, there is so much destruction with car chases, truck wrecks, exploding buildings and bridges. Powell does ridiculously difficult stunts leaving no way out, but Ben keeps right on ticking. After awhile, it gets a little tiresome, but somehow, Wright, with Glen Powell’s good looks and boundless energy, this Running Man gets enough traction.
Paramount Pictures 2 hours 13 minutes R
