The Running Man 2025/133 minutes/rated ROpening the week of November 14 courtesy of Paramount The good news is that this latest adaptation of The Running Man, co-written by Edgar Wright and Michael Bacall with Wright directing, is far more faithful to the original novel than was the Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring 1987 flick. However, the bad news is that it’s far more loyal to Richard Bachman’s Stephen King’s 1982 tome. That’s not to get into “better” or “worse.” Even Arnold Schwarzenegger was reportedly not much of a fan of his variation, calling the firing of original director Andrew Davis a “terrible decision” as replacement helmer Paul Michael Glaser “shot the movie like it was a television show, losing all the deeper themes.” And even as a kid, I found the picture to be a lesser 1980s actioner compared to the likes of Commando and Predator. However, it did stand out as a unique and “original” sci-fi flick. This new “better” and certainly slicker version cannot help but feel redundant after nearly 40 years of “The Most Dangerous Game” knock-offs. For those who have only seen the movie, this version, like the book, features Ben Richards not as a wrongfully accused criminal but a down-on-his-luck family man who agrees to participate to secure life-saving medication for his sick toddler. And instead of being trapped in a series of fantastical gladiator challenges, The Running Man tosses Ben into the real world, where he must evade discovery and execution for 30 days. It’s more of a conventional “innocent man on the run from heavily-armed and government-sanctioned stooges” caper. That’s not a criticism per se, and to be fair, the now even less plausible “Richard’s continued survival makes him an anti-establishment hero that sows the hopeful seeds of rebellion” material is straight from the source. But the reversion to the original pitch makes for a far more conventional adventure that plays like a sci-fi redo of, oddly enough, Quibi’s “medically doomed family man agrees to be hunted city-wide for 24 hours” Most Dangerous Game TV show. Message Scott Mendelson Paramount I could complain about the lack of sharp satire amid what is a pretty run-of-the-mill genre exercise, and it’s like this tries to be a “somber drama.” However, real life has partially surpassed King’s “set in 2025” dystopian story. We laughed in 1987 when Family Feud host Richard Dawson skewed his gee-whiz image as an R-rated master of ceremonies. The real 2025 has revealed an America stupid, cruel and/or apathetic enough to elect our favorite psychopathic game show host as President… twice. That’s an issue, albeit on a case-by-case basis (The Long Walk is excellent), with adapting old(er) IP with then-topical or urgent themes. Since the grim future in question has already, in some ways, become our present, the film’s hyperbolic warnings now feel almost idealistically naive. Besides, The Running Man only got a 2025 redo mostly because Squid Game became a global sensation for Netflix. Say it with me now… “Audiences who flocked to Inception did not want a Total Recall remake!” Topicality and viability notwithstanding, it mostly does its job as a big-budget ($110 million, which very much feels on-screen) sci-fi action thriller. Glen Powell is fine when he’s an action figure and/or when he’s a desperate guy naturally reacting to the circumstances and/or having honest conversations with those in his midst. However, he comes off as cartoonishly performative at times, especially early on, as the picture attempts to establish Ben as a dangerously angry, less clean-cut anti-hero. The rest of the cast is mostly just… there, with the likes of William H. Macy (in perhaps the best scene in the film), Katy O’Brian, a mostly-masked Lee Pace, Emilia Jones and Jayme Lawson mostly existing while Colman Domingo, Josh Brolin and an bemusingly against-type (for the role, not the actor) Michael Cera periodically get to chew a little scenery. The production values are solid, and the mostly life-size action compels. But the film does little more than get from A to B. Subscribe Paramount That’s especially true for the first 100-ish minutes, but (fidelity notwithstanding), the third act becomes bloated and seems to almost start over right before the climax. Speaking of which, no spoilers, but fans of the original novel might be reminded of George Sluizer’s American remake of his own The Vanishing. It’s not that I demand that shows and movies not change the ending of their respective source material. The “new” finale to Blumhouse’s remake of Speak No Evil mostly worked on its own terms, no matter its obvious inferiority to the original. The ending to the movie version of The Firm is better and smarter than the original finale. However, in this case, the picture reaches a natural endpoint, only to devolve into an endless, insulting, and self-destructive epilogue that undercuts any real-world sting that might be left on the table. Up to that point, I had been begrudgingly entertained, but the protracted pre-credits sequence did little more than underscore its artistic irrelevance. I didn’t love the initial The Running Man flick. By most standards, this is better-made, better-performed, and more engrossing big-screen entertainment. However, it was somewhat original unto itself, and its relative success (especially in post-theatrical) inspired television shows like American Gladiators and video games like Smash TV. Whether or not it invented a genre, the Schwarzenegger flick was the first modern “reality TV” sci-fi flick of its kind. It became a kind of shorthand for what would eventually be approximated or improved upon in the likes of Battle Royale, The Condemned, The Hunger Games and Squid Game. While faithful to the book, this “too little, too late” incarnation plays like a loose revision of an even more familiar formula and won’t inspire anything beyond indifference. It doesn’t really pass the Amazing Spider-Man test. It’s different enough from its predecessor but not its own formula. Simplistically speaking, is it different enough from The Running Man? Yes. Is it noticeably better than Hard Target? Nope. Source: https://scottmendelson.substack.com/p/running-man-review-glen-powell