The Running Man
- Ben Pivoz
- Nov 16
- 3 min read
In 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in The Running Man, a silly, violent, one-liner-filled, dystopian action movie about a soldier framed for a war crime and forced onto a game show where he must run for his life from a group of gimmicky killers. It is a fun slice of 80s cheese. Based on the 1982 novel by Stephen King (writing under the pseudonym Richard Bachman), it was an adaptation in name only. It used the vague outline of a future society controlled by a tv network and a game show watched by bloodthirsty citizens. Everything besides that was made up to fit the Schwarzenegger formula. It took nearly another forty years, but Edgar Wright has taken a crack at it, resulting in a much more faithful big-screen version.
This is a straight chase thriller (with the occasional touch of humor) following an ordinary man reluctantly taking on the system to protect his family. It softens the source material a little, making the protagonist less abrasive (if still angry) and changing the bleak ending a bit. Does that faithfulness make for a better movie? It is certainly better made. However, I am not sure it is as entertaining. Some sections definitely drag as it hammers home its class-based themes.
Though I don’t recall seeing pacing issues in Edgar Wright’s work before, he can’t seem to keep this firing on all cylinders for the entire 128 minutes (minus the end credits). It is well-cast, with several clever moments and a few very good sequences, yet the action is kind of weak and it never consistently generates the excitement its title would indicate. It is a decent production that feels like it had the pieces to be something really fun.
Ben Richards can’t get a job. His 2-year-old is sick and he has been blacklisted from any employment. Much to his wife’s dismay, he decides his only choice is to audition for one of the network’s popular games, where you risk your safety for a shot at fast cash. He is selected for the most dangerous of those competitions, The Running Man, where you must survive for thirty days as trained killers hunt you with the help of every civilian looking for the financial reward. No one has ever won. Does Ben have what it takes to be the first?
The setup is simple and Wright gets to the game fairly quickly. Having just read the book, I was aware that a lot of this would be Ben running and hiding, with much of the tension coming from when the hunters will appear. It doesn’t do a great job of sustaining that tension through the various vignettes of Ben’s encounters. The hunters seem to show up at arbitrary times and aren’t given enough personality to make an impact.
I liked Ben Richards because Glen Powell has a tremendously charismatic screen presence. The character himself is justifiably angry at the world, with a capacity for violence. Yet the movie holds him back from doing anything the audience might find distasteful. A lot of the big explosions are circumstance. While Powell is a good action hero, the screenplay gets in his way.
The same can be said for the quality supporting cast. Josh Brolin as the show’s producer, Colman Domingo as its host, Michael Cera as a helpful citizen and Katy O’Brian as a significantly less discreet contestant give it their all, without the space to create distinct individuals. Edgar Wright is absolutely one of my favorite current filmmakers. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Baby Driver are two of my favorite movies of the last fifteen years. I was excited to see what he could do with this, especially with a more than capable star. It is fine. The fact that this may be his worst effort so far speaks loudly to how strong his body of work is.
3 out of 5
Cast:
Glen Powell as Ben Richards
Josh Brolin as Dan Killian
Colman Domingo as Bobby T
Lee Pace as Evan McCone
Katy O’Brian as Jenni Laughlin
Daniel Ezra as Bradley
Michael Cera as Elton Perrakis
Emilia Jones as Amelia Williams
Directed by Edgar Wright
Screenplay by Michael Bacall and Edgar Wright
Comments