Stephen King is responsible for five adaptations in 2025 and it should be lost on nobody that they all describe to some extent a world gone mad. Whereas King’s traditional fare describes personal horror – vampires, zombies, a rabid dog, a rapid prom, a rabid car, the offerings this year: “IT: Welcome to Derry” , “The Institute”, The Life of Chuck, The Long Walk, and -now- The Running Man all describe bigger problems than a local infestation. Heck, The Long Walk and The Running Man are straight-up dystopias. The fact that Trump is accelerating class struggle like no one person before him is lost on nobody, least of all the adaptors of Stephen King.
Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is an angry man. He knows he’s angry. Fired for whistleblowing, he brings his infant with him to a job-begging session to keep him from pummeling the man refusing to re-employ him. Unemployment is close to a death sentence in this version of the world. The setting of this film is a dystopian society so stratified that ID is needed just to enter the downtown area, a place where sitting is not allowed for fear of death. [Didn’t we just see this in The Long Walk?]
Well, gee, Ben has gotta pay the bills somehow … how about a game show? Those guys win even when they lose. Ben thinks he has what it takes. His wife pleads for him not to opt for The Running Man, The Most Dangerous Gameshow, where no contestant has ever survived. Ah, but here’s the thing, Ben doesn’t get to choose. So when he tests off the chart for survival skill set, the only place he’s going is The Running Man.
The Running Man is a survival-based game show. A jumpsuit-wearing fool must escape professional hunters for 30 days. That never happens. This film gave a nice homage to the 1987 film by featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger on the $100 notes. This version of The Running Man is less flash, but more dangerous, in a several ways. For one thing, there’s no longer an arena. While it is still a game to the death where unarmed contestants battle professional killers, the confined space of the original meant the only people who could hurt you are the ones hunting you. In this version of The Running Man, the battleground is the entire United States, which seems great from the perspective of places to hide but lousy in terms of crowd reliance (any normal citizen can earn a cash reward by turning in a Running Man, hence every face is a possible threat).
Another key difference is motivation. Contestants in the 1987 version were themselves criminals and offered either a gameshow death or the worst the penal system has to offer. Here, Richards is no criminal. This is compensated by the police state AI and media; they can sell any version of Richards that their audience will buy – do they want to present him as a good guy or the kind of angry rabble-rouser that audiences will loathe? Which death would you find easier to handle?
After some coercion, Ben agrees to The Running Man. He thinks if he can stay alive long enough, he can support 
his wife and child for several years. But ya gotta stay alive. We know from Hit Man that Glen Powell loves to have fun with disguises, which fits in perfectly with Richards’ head start. But it’s only a matter of time before the goons catch up. The real question is once they do, has Ben Richards got any chance?
The Running Man is fun; I find it marred mostly by the same problem that plagued the new Superman – it’s too preachy. The thing is, when you live in a dystopia, as we do now, [Do you honestly think Trump wins a second term in any society that isn’t completely fucked up?] there is no need to preach in film form. That’s for protests and centrist politicians and late night talk show hosts. Movies need to be more subtle. Show the dystopia and let the audience decide what they’re looking at. When you spell it out this blatantly, it loses some of the magic or flavor. That’s mostly how I felt about The Running Man. I liked it better than the Schwarzenegger version, but was left spent and unimpressed instead of wanting more.
If Glen Powell wasn’t an A Lister before, he sure is now. He’s established himself as an action star (significantly younger action star than his peers, one might note) and can probably now command role and salary. Where does he go with this fame? Is the preachiness an aberration or is he the new voice against fascism? I suppose the clock is running.
A dystopian nothing named Ben
Had the temper of an angry wet hen
So they put him on air
Unleashed ruses de guerre
Testing if he were a man among men
Rated R, 133 Minutes
Director: Edgar Wright
Writer: Stephen King, Michael Bacall, Edgar Wright
Genre: Our screwed future
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Glen Powell believers
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Fascists
