{"id":128337,"date":"2025-11-11T23:25:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T23:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/128337\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T23:25:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T23:25:09","slug":"the-running-man-review-glen-powell-cant-get-up-to-speed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/128337\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Running Man’ review: Glen Powell can’t get up to speed"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s always interesting when time overtakes the dystopias of the past. In Stephen King\u2019s<\/a> 1982 novel \u201cThe Running Man,\u201d the United States has fallen into a totalitarian state, divided between haves and have-nots, where all movements can be surveilled and realistic video propaganda is easily generated. King\u2019s book was set in the year 2025.<\/p>\n

Edgar Wright\u2019s new big-screen adaptation<\/a> is fittingly but awkwardly timed. Arriving in the year of King\u2019s imagined dystopia, its near-future has little in it that isn\u2019t already plausible today, making this \u201cRunning Man\u201d \u2014 while fleet of foot in action \u2014 feel a step, or two, behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Running Man,\u201d of course, has already begat one movie. Paul Michael Glaser\u2019s 1987 film starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as Ben Richards, the young father who out of financial desperation auditions for a lethal reality show where survival for 30 days means a $1 billion payday. (The movie was set in the distant year of 2017.) Times have changed, though. Wright\u2019s film stars Glen Powell<\/a> as Richards, a fairly exponential upgrade in smirking charisma.<\/p>\n

This is, for sure, a dystopia with a genial spin. That\u2019s not only the case with the dashing and overweening Powell but with Wright, a playful genre practitioner whose approach to apocalypse (\u201cShaun of the Dead\u201d) is, by nature, comic. From the start, the darkest shades of King\u2019s book have been snuffed out of this blandly entertaining remake that swaps out the brutalist 1980s nihilism of the Schwarzenegger movie for a satirical portrait of America lacking in bite and prescience. <\/p>\n

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\"This<\/p>\n

Lee Pace in \u201cThe Running Man.\u201d (Ross Ferguson\/Paramount Pictures via AP)<\/p>\n

Lee Pace in \u201cThe Running Man.\u201d (Ross Ferguson\/Paramount Pictures via AP)<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s not like the 1987 \u201cRunning Man\u201d was so great, either. But at least it locked into a tone and stuck with it. Wright\u2019s movie has flashes of flamboyance that help, but it struggles to balance such violent science fiction with funny, over-the-top farce (care of Colman Domingo<\/a> and Michael Cera<\/a>). That was basically the task, and success, of the \u201cHunger Games\u201d films, which owed plenty to \u201cThe Running Man.\u201d That\u2019s one of the hard things about reaching backward for futuristic visions. \u201cThe Running Man\u201d and its ilk have been getting ripped off for decades now. (Go back further and Richard Connell, author of 1924\u2019s \u201cThe Most Dangerous Game,\u201d probably has the biggest gripe.)<\/p>\n

In the opening scenes of \u201cThe Running Man,\u201d Richards has run out of employment options. At every turn, he\u2019s been labeled insubordinate or has flirted too much with union representation for his radiation-exposed colleagues. With a baby home sick and a wife (Jayme Lawson) considering taking a shift at a dangerous nightclub, he resolves to try out for the many reality shows put on by the Network, the all-powerful, government-controlled media monolith. Richards strides from the grim and gritty Co-Op City through a checkpoint and into a gleaming, militantly policed metropolis. Though he\u2019s sworn off participating in \u201cThe Running Man,\u201d it\u2019s the only show his particular combination of rage and sarcasm qualifies him for. In a word association test, he replies: Freedom? \u201cNo.\u201d Anarchy? \u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n

The job is offered to him by the Network head, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin). Brolin is especially good as the slick, lying-through-his-teeth Killian, a fine addition to the many mean authority figures Brolin has played over the years, from the studio fixer of \u201cHail, Caesar!\u201d to the police officer of \u201cInherent Vice,\u201d or even the supervillain of \u201cAvengers: Endgame.\u201d He\u2019s a pliable actor with many other modes, but Brolin may be the defining rock-jawed face of corrupt power of our time. (That goes, too, for his demagogue priest in the upcoming \u201cWake Up Dead: A Knives Out Mystery.\u201d<\/a> )<\/p>\n

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\"This<\/p>\n

Josh Brolin in \u201cThe Running Man.\u201d (Ross Ferguson\/Paramount Pictures via AP)<\/p>\n

Josh Brolin in \u201cThe Running Man.\u201d (Ross Ferguson\/Paramount Pictures via AP)<\/p>\n

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Even better, though, is Domingo as the show\u2019s host, Bobby Thompson. Domingo has the grand flair for grinning showman types like these, even if some of Bobby T\u2019s thunder has been stolen by previous roles like it. (\u201cThe Hunger Games,\u201d again, with Stanley Tucci.) Entering the game at the same time are a few other contestants (Katy O\u2019Brian, Martin Herlihy). Once the game is on, they\u2019re dropped back into the world with a head start. Anyone who recognizes them can turn them in for a reward to the armed hunters in pursuit. The hunters are led by the face-covered Evan McCone (a wasted Lee Pace). Floating drone cameras capture the action for live broadcasts. <\/p>\n

This is, at first, a fun game of hide-and-seek, stretching from New York to Boston to Maine, that allows for a few enjoyable cameos. Cera essentially plays an adult Kevin McCallister if he had grown up to be a paranoid anarchist with the same fondness for \u201cHome Alone\u201d-style booby traps. But while \u201cThe Running Man\u201d always maintains a forward-moving baseline, Powell\u2019s Richards isn\u2019t a compelling enough character to make the ride especially rewarding. So far, Powell has been best in looser films like his two with Richard Linklater: \u201cEverybody Wants Some!!\u201d<\/a> and \u201cHit Man.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

\n Michael Cera in “The Running Man.” (Ross Ferguson\/Paramount Pictures via AP)\n <\/p>\n

Michael Cera in “The Running Man.” (Ross Ferguson\/Paramount Pictures via AP)<\/p>\n

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\"This<\/p>\n

\n Colman Domingo in “The Running Man.” (Ross Ferguson\/Paramount Pictures via AP)\n <\/p>\n

Colman Domingo in “The Running Man.” (Ross Ferguson\/Paramount Pictures via AP)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Wright, who penned the script with Michael Bacall, has lately been drawn toward darker tales and bigger scales, with mixed results<\/a>. But while he\u2019s long been a talented juggler of genres, \u201cThe Running Man\u201d struggles to mix comic hijinks with weightier themes of inequality and antiauthoritarianism. Those driving concepts come off as hollow in a big-budget, IP-draining reboot that\u2019s too timid for King\u2019s bleakest plot turns.<\/p>\n

But if there\u2019s one aspect of Wright\u2019s film that feels genuinely connected to today, it\u2019s the movie\u2019s media metaphor. This isn\u2019t so much in the Network, which seems stuck in a dated parody where everyone still watches the same show at night. It\u2019s in a more AI-related subtext.<\/p>\n

As Richards\u2019 survival stretches into weeks, Killian employs ever-greater means of manipulation to sell him to the public as a villain. On the Network, he can make Richards do, or say, whatever he wants. Eventually, Richards wonders aloud: If he can use digital wizardry to do anything, why does he even need a human contestant? Killian\u2019s answer is simply that human contestants get better ratings. This, at least, feels like an honest question for today. It\u2019s just too bad \u201cThe Running Man\u201d isn\u2019t the act of resistance it wants to be. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Running Man,\u201d a Paramount Pictures release is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for strong violence, some gore and language. Running time: 133 minutes. Two stars out of four.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s always interesting when time overtakes the dystopias of the past. In Stephen King\u2019s 1982 novel \u201cThe Running…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1391,22715,80718,80719,80715,51639,80716,51243,146,80717,29620,28331,85,46,25429,80710,51640,80712,80713,80709,80714,4178,80711,51641,397,80708,80720,6406,33677,4707,125,411],"class_list":["post-128337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-arnold-schwarzenegger","tag-arts-and-entertainment","tag-ben-richards","tag-bobby-t","tag-bobby-thompson","tag-colman-domingo","tag-dan-killian","tag-edgar-wright","tag-entertainment","tag-evan-mccone","tag-film-reviews","tag-glen-powell","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-jake-coyle","tag-jayme-lawson","tag-josh-brolin","tag-katy-obrian","tag-kevin-mccallister","tag-lee-pace","tag-martin-herlihy","tag-media","tag-michael-bacall","tag-michael-cera","tag-movies","tag-paul-michael-glaser","tag-richard-connell","tag-richard-linklater","tag-stanley-tucci","tag-stephen-king","tag-technology","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}