It is rare that we get a fun new action movie in cinemas and Edgar Wright’s The Running Man gives that rush of a good old fashion action film to us and so much more. Based on the novel by Stephen King, Wright and co-writer Michael Bacall made magic with this adaptation.
Glen Powell stars as Ben Richards, a man who has been put on the blacklist by the corporation who runs everything and is struggling to take care of his family. When his daughter Cathy gets sick, he promises his wife, Sheila (Jayme Lawson), that he’ll take any other game show on The Network except for “The Running Man.” The rest is history.
The concept is simple: Run for your life for 30 days and you become a billionaire. But the catch is that for all the aggressive kills and blood baths, some audience members think that it is all made up. But the gunshots are very real and Ben, while trying to just be a good dad to his daughter, quickly realizes how dangerous (and rigged) “The Running Man” really is.
Wright and Bacall had a pretty impossible task in front of them. King’s book is timely, apt, but also dated in some ways. Ben Richards, at least for me, was mostly an unlikable character until his motivations and deep love for his family is revealed later into the novel. Wright and Bacall made Ben’s love for his wife and daughter more obvious from the jump, allowing an audience to root for him instead of wonder why they should care.
It helps that Powell is, as always, charming and captivating even with rage bubbling beneath him at all times. But really works with The Running Man is the campy action that you can’t look away from.
I’d watch Glen Powell run for hours on end (with weird little disguises, of course)
When it comes to a concept like The Running Man, you have to cast a lead that people want to root for. It is why, despite being the opposite of what King wrote in the novel, the 1987 film worked a bit. Arnold Schwarzenegger was an actor people wanted to cheer for. And Glen Powell does that and so much more for Wright’s vision of this story.
His Ben is, in Powell’s own words, the kind of man who doesn’t pack the hardest punch but he’ll always get back up. And that’s exactly what he does. With every punch, nearly naked escape, and explosion, his Ben Richards still pushes on, all with one driving force: His daughter.
He asks multiple times throughout the film to people attempting to report him or kill him if that person thinks he’s going to let them be the reason he doesn’t see his daughter again. And that determination is a big reason why an audience wants Ben to succeed in this impossible task. It also helps that Glen Powell seemingly loves a weird little disguise, meaning that you do believe Ben Richards can go through America undetected as a blind Irish Catholic priest.
But much like Mr. Movie himself, the man everyone wants to compare Powell to, Tom Cruise, he does have that magnetism on screen that thrills you while watching him run for his life. It also helps that Powell is quite literally in every single scene in this film.
How adaptations should be
The book itself is dated in the way it shows Ben’s “rage” and how he exists in the world but Wright, Bacall, and Powell made a character that, on paper, wasn’t that likable to me, into someone I want to win. But outside of Ben Richards, the film also does a great job filling out Richards’ world while on the show.
There are still some staples from the book, like William H. Macy’s Molie as well (though he has a different name in the novel). And Wright and Bacall have fun nods to other characters, like naming Katy O’Brian’s runner “Laughlin.” But what I think works incredibly well with this adaptation is the balance between the themes in King’s book while making sure the “game show” aspect of “The Running Man” is sold in vibrant colors and upsetting kills.
But it all works to make this world feel rich, dystopian, and terrifying. Especially with how close it seems to our own reality.
The kind of action movie we need in 2025
We’ve slowly moved away from the action movies of old. Gone are the month releases of some blockbuster with an action star taking us on a thrilling journey. But The Running Man harkens back to the Harrison Ford days when you always knew you were in for a good time with one of his action movies. And I’ve missed this kind of action film.
Yes, there will be people who wanted a more dystopian and upsetting look at the powers that be keeping down hardworking men and while The Running Man is that, it allows itself to have fun too. Bobby T. (Coleman Domingo) is thrilled by the idea of people dying and ratings going up just as Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) is. Elton (Michael Cera) just wants to take down the system and Amelia (Emilia Jones) has to come to terms with her own wealth and status.
All with Evan McCone (Lee Pace) posing and having way too much fun taunting the runners. So much of this movie just really worked for me and was what I wanted and what I didn’t expect delighted me. Run to the theaters to see Glen Powell in nothing but a towel but stay for a fun return to the action genre on the big screen.
The Running Man hits theaters on November 14.
(featured image: Paramount Pictures)
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