The Running Man movie review: Glen Powell fails to dig deep, film becomes a drag

Going by that old adage — those who can’t have bread, can be diverted by cake — citizens have been turned into sheep under the thumb of a totalitarian regime and an all-seeing network, numbed by high-octane, screaming 24/ 7 ‘entertainment’ to prevent them from thinking about their real problems.

It was made into a movie in 1985, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as chief protagonist Ben Richards, a righteous man filled with righteous anger against the injustices heaped upon the poor and the downtrodden. By the kind of coincidence that the movie gods love, the new adaptation is out this year (yes, 2025 is the year King had set the book in), but this Glen Powell starrer, despite all its noise and thunder, ends up a non-starter.

It begins well enough. Holding out big prize money, villainous Network boss (Josh Brolin) induces Ben ( Powell) to leave his despairing wife ( Jayme Lawson) and sick baby daughter to join one of the Network’s most popular shows, in which people enrol to run for their lives, with vicious Goons hunting them down. The jolly emcee ( Colman Domingo) whips up the frenzy, as the audience cheers and boos, collective blood-lust boosting the hunger games.

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Every day a participant manages to stay alive, a certain sum of money is added to his account: the citizens have been turned into modern-day gladiators; those who point out the running man (or woman) are given cash and their 15 seconds of fame.

Powell’s progress, if you can call it that, is interrupted by the frequent arrival of armed hoods, led by the masked Lee Pace. The film does try to set up a frantic pace, as the increasingly bruised and battered Ben goes about diving out of high windows and hijacking pretty girls in self-driven cars (it is the future, silly) to help him escape his armed captors. Fortunately, rebels abound ; one of them (Michael Cera) turns out to be in possession of ready wits, and gives Ben and us a bit of respite from all the breathless chases.

King couldn’t have known how prescient he was: Trump’s America hews scarily close to the fictional universe of the Running Man, as do other parts of the world, including our own. Why are you playing a cog in the propaganda machine, asks a character, and when Ben replies, it is for his family, it does cut deep.

But Powell doesn’t have the depth to dig deeper than he does; neither does the film. Soon enough, it becomes a drag, and stays that way.

The Running Man movie cast: Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, Lee Pace, Jayme Lawson, William H Macy

The Running Man movie director: Edgar Wright

The Running Man movie rating: 2.5 stars

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