THE RUNNING MAN (2025) review
written by: Edgar Wright
produced by: Simon Kinberg, Nira Park, and Edgar Wright
directed by: Edgar Wright
rated: R (for strong violence, some gore, and language)
runtime: 133 min.
U.S. release date: November 14, 2025
It’s 2025, and the United States is a dystopian police state ruled by corporate media networks, where citizens live in a state of class disparity. Most people live in poverty with access to poor or little healthcare. To distract from a totalitarian hellhole, people are kept pacified by FreeVee, television programming that bombards the population with trashy reality shows and violent game shows. Sound familiar?
That’s actually a description of the setting for Stephen King’s 1982 novella The Running Man, released under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.” King probably never thought he would be so prescient at the time.
He also probably never would’ve believed it if someone had informed 1982 Stephen King that in 2025, “The Running Man” would be the fourth film adaptation of his books released that year. The movie, directed by Edgar Wright and co-written with Michael Bacall, is actually the second attempt at bringing King’s book to the big screen, following 1987’s adaptation starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. That movie veered wildly from the book, but was entertaining and had some great one-liners from Ah-nuld. It was also more overtly comedic than relevant. However, it could fit nicely alongside Paul Verhoeven’s “Robocop”, which was released the same year and also set in a violent, dystopian American city, poking fun at the media we consume.
Wright plans to follow the source material closer than the first sci-fi action flick. The result is a largely grounded take that, at times, feels like a documentary, given the constant news that bombards us. This “The Running Man” starts out promising, wasting no time to get things going; however, the game cast gets stuck with some lousy dialogue. What’s missing most is Wright’s trademark kinetic style, which you’d think would be all over this material. Although this is touted as a “much more faithful” adaptation, fans of King’s ending will be disappointed that Wright takes a different direction entirely, making it seem as though Paramount Pictures intervened and told Him he could only “run” so far with this property.
Since it’s 2025, this version doesn’t bother specifying a year and goes with “in the near future.” That’s when we meet Ben Richards (Glen Powell), who has been struggling to find work in Co-Op City since he was blacklisted for speaking out about the radiation exposure in the work environment. While he has a proclivity for seeking out justice, it probably doesn’t help that his anger issues have given him a short fuse. He’s frustrated that he can’t find work and that his wife, Sheila (Jayme Lawson, “Sinners”), has to take on more hours at the nightclub (at least we assume it’s a nightclub, but there’s hints it could be more like a strip joint) where she works to afford the medication needed for their infant daughter, Cathy (played by twins Alyssa and Sienna Benn), who has influenza.
Without financial support and desperate to provide for his family, Ben breaks down and signs up to compete on one of the many game shows that fill television. Ben is noticed in the crowd of hopeful contestants by executive producer Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) for his physique and quick temper. Next thing he knows, he’s been selected to participate in one of the most popular and dangerous games, “The Running Man.”
Contestants of the show are “runners” who can win $1 billion if they survive out in the open for 30 days, while being pursued by the network’s Hunters, led by the mysterious Evan McCone (Lee Pace). The only way to lose is to be killed. Ordinary civilians are encouraged to “Record and Report” any contestant activity, or they can kill the players themselves. At first, Ben isn’t interested in signing up for the show, but Killian offers him an advance for Cathy’s medication and a safe house for his family if he agrees to participate. He’s not going to find a better deal anywhere else.
Ben and his fellow Runners are given $1,000 and a 12-hour head start. They are required to send in a tape of themselves every day to be screened on the show, and civilians can earn rewards for reporting a runner or killing one themselves.
It all starts with a rowdy in-studio audience as the show’s charismatic host, Bobby T (Colman Domingo, clearly having a good time), introduces the contestants. Two other contestants, Tim Jansky (Martin Herlihy, one-third of the comedy group Please Don’t Destroy) and Jenni Laughlin (Katy O’Brian, who was also in “Twisters” with Powell), are brought before the audience with Ben, each with their own video introductions which the network has doctored to make them look like reprehensible characters.
Each Runner is given $1,000 and a 12-hour head start at the start of this most dangerous game, as drone cameras track their activity. They can travel all over the country and do whatever, but run the risk of getting caught and killed by either a network Hunter or a random citizen. If they don’t submit a daily video clip to the network, the promised funds to their loved ones will be withheld. That daily video is then broadcast to viewers, sometimes doctored as well, especially if a Runner is stating the truth about the network or the government’s authoritarian grasp and socio-economic inequalities.
Once on the run, Ben’s first stop is to procure false IDs and disguises from his old friend, Molie (William H. Macy), a specialist in black-market dealings. With those added tools secured, Ben travels to New York, and the chase is on. He can view his “running mates'” progress via FreeVee (available everywhere). But he must ultimately rely on his own determination, quick thinking, and motivation to survive the 30 days and reunite with his family.
Viewers entering this new adaptation with a clean slate, having neither read King’s novella nor seen Schwarzenegger’s cult classic action flick, will derive the most entertainment value from it. At least, that’s probably what Paramount and Wright are hoping. There’s definitely entertainment to be experienced here, but it will be a challenge for some viewers (myself included) to keep the source material and the first big-screen adaptation out of their minds.
One of the more jarring differences between Wright’s adaptation and Schwarzenegger’s (helmed by Paul Michael Glaser, known for “Starsky and Hutch”) is the dynamic between the Hunters and Runners. In the 1987 movie, the Hunters were called Stalkers, colorful pro-wrestlers or American Gladiator types, and were cheered by the audience to the point of becoming celebrities. They were also cast with brawny, larger-than-life actors like Jesse Ventura, Jim Brown, and Erland Van Lidth, who were given superhero names like Captain Freedom, Fireball, and Dynamo, respectively. Part of the fun was seeing what new threat the Runners would encounter with each Stalker.
In this iteration, all the Hunters wear the same military-style fatigues, accompanied by blank masks and sunglasses to conceal their faces. Their hidden identities resemble ICE agents that populate our news feeds here in the States, which may be an unintentional yet timely coincidence, offering a more grounded version of the story. None of them has an identifiable name, except for their leader, McCone, who has a no-nonsense presence that does little to enhance the show’s appeal. It doesn’t help that McCone’s backstory becomes increasingly evident as the story unfolds. In fact, the revelation of McCone’s identity suggests a more compelling story than Powell’s Ben Richards character.
That being said, “The Running Man” is definitely more interested and committed to Ben’s experiences on the run. That’s understandable, considering Powell is playing the titular role, but there would be greater pressure if we knew more about his pursuers. Unlike the 1987 movie, we see Ben Richards travel to different cities, evade both Hunters and civilians, and try on various disguises (which bring to mind Powell’s work in last year’s “Hit Man”), including that of a blind priest. Not everyone is out to get Richards, and in this version, we see more than just the underground rebellion that assisted Schwarzenegger.
While in Boston, Richards is assisted by anti-network activist Bradley Throckmorton (Daniel Ezra), who’s also married with a sick child. When Ben tries to reveal the truth that the entire game is rigged (something he learns from Bradley), his video messages are deepfaked to make him look irate and unhinged to the public. Bradley suggests Ben visit one of his fellow activists in Derry, Maine (a nice nod to Stephen King), named Elton Parrakis (Michael Cera, re-teaming with Wright after leading “Scott Pilgrim”), who lives in a large booby-trapped rural house with his dementia-addled mother (Sandra Dickinson). These encounters tend to slow the pace of Ben’s plight, which is problematic considering the movie’s title, but Wright does his best to liven it up with chase sequences, shootouts, and explosions. There’s nothing wrong with any of the action sequences, but what’s missing is the signature kinetic style Wright is known for. One would think this story would be ideally suited to the director’s trademark whiplash editing, but it is strangely absent here.
Throughout “The Running Man”, Brolin’s Killian closely monitors every move Ben makes, using propaganda to maintain the show’s popularity. From the moment Richards sits in Killian’s office up to the movie’s third act, Brolin projects a fittingly smug, matter-of-fact demeanor. He’s someone who’s used to offering corporate temptations to those who work for him, especially those who compete in his games. It’s all for ratings, which is all for capitalist gains. Once Ben realizes that the game is futile and Killian ultimately controls the narrative, he’s willing to go off-script to blow it all up in Killian’s face.
Much is being said about how Glen Powell is being thrust upon us as “the next big thing”, and to that I say, “So what?” From what I’ve seen, he’s a good actor who’s got big-screen swagger, and he’s fine here. King described Ben Richards as “lanky” in his book, so neither Schwarzenegger nor Powell (his washboard abs are hilariously emphasized in a prolonged towel scene) fit this description, but what would be the draw if they cast someone, like, say…Michael Cera? I’d watch it, but I can’t see it ever being greenlit.
So, yes, the screenplay is more faithful to the source material than the 1987 movie, but the intensity of King’s work feels neutered here. It feels like punches are pulled, especially during the movie’s climactic ending. I didn’t expect the ending to follow King’s conclusion, but Wright’s ending (and, for that matter, the ending in the first adaptation) feels too neat. In this environment, which offers a prescient look at class divide and authoritarian manipulation, the last thing we should end on is “neat.”
RATING: **1/2
