The Running Man (2025) – Review

One of the main problems when it comes to remaking huge, unsubtle sci-fi action movies from the 80s and 90s is that they tend to lose the bolshy personality and razor wit that made them so distinctive in the first place. Take both Robocop and Total Recall for example: two undisputed bangers from Paul Verhoven that saw both their respective edges blunted by their plastic, safe, do-overs that lacked that vital spark and charisma.
Well, one director whose style certainly doesn’t lack either of those is that of Edgar Wright, who has taken it upon himself to breathe new life into Schwarzenegger’s future shock satire, The Running Man – however, while the original movie is a beloved hunk of 80s cheese, Wright’s got something of a secret weapon in his corner in the shape of author Stephen King.
While it’s no secret (now, anyways) that King wrote the original novella under an alias, Arnie’s crack at it barely stuck to the grim, dystopian thriller at all (that’s right, folks – no Dynamo); well, with something far closer to the original story back in place, twinned with an effort to keep the swaggering chutzpah of the movie intact, has Wright managed to deliver yet another sparkling jewel in the crown of 2025 Stephen King adaptions?

In yet another one of those dystopian futures that’s seen corporations close their their hands around the throat of America, we find blue collar hot head Ben Richards desperately trying to seek employment after his constant insubordination has gotten him blackballed. However, the true kicker is that Richards – despite that barely contained temper – is a stand up guy who just needs money to pay for his daughter’s illness and as his wife has to work at a sleazy nightclub to make ends meet, Ben decides that the only way he can support his family and save his kid is to break into the world of television.
In this future, that’s something that’s incredibly easy to do thanks to the fact that a nefarious corporation has diverted the public’s attention thanks to a bunch of vapid, spiteful gameshows that offer out easy bucks in exchange for pain and humiliation. However, the highest rated of NRI’s programming arm is The Running Man, a brutal survival show that sees its contestants have to survive for thirty days with the entire nation hunting him down. The longer he survives, the more money his wife and kid get; but with a team of five Hunters on his tail, no one has ever lived to make it the full duration and claimed the main prize.
Thinking that he’s got no choice, Richards finds himself auditioning for one of the tamer show – however, his supremely satisfying “fuck you” attitude to most forms of authority is noticed by network president Dan Killian who believes that the fiery everyman has what it takes to bring in some real ratings. Before you know it, Ben Richards finds his mug plastered all over every screen in the country as he struggles to stay under the radar and avoid detection. But with rewards offered on any updates on him and the head Hunter, the masked McCone on his tail, can our guy negotiate a hazardous future and get back to his family.

It’s been something of a banner year for Stephen King – in fact it could be the strongest one ever thanks to adaptations of The Monkey, The Long Walk, last year’s The Life Of Chuck and the small screen return of Pennywise the Clown in It: Welcome To Derry proving just how versatile the author can really be. However, while we’ve already had a top notch adaptation this year based on a lethal, dystopian game (The thrillingly grim The Long Walk), Wright’s take on The Running Man may actually be the most relentlessly entertaining yet. Fusing big budget bangs with angry, sarcastic satire thrusting it’s middle fingers wherever it can, Wright’s managed to not only keep that swaggering, excessive, 80s spirit alive in a rip-roaring action romp, but he also manages to tug on the heart strings while frequently dinging the funny bone and pumping the adrenaline all at the same time.
While the director isn’t exactly a stranger to action beats thanks to West county spoof Hot Fuzz, comic book/video game blowout Scott Pilgrim Vs The World and car chase wet dream Baby Driver, this is probably the most conventional film Wright has ever made, but while his precision camera moves are maybe not as evident as, say, One Night In Soho, he’s instead channelled that urge for complex cinematography into an irresistible sense of momentum that makes his latest movies arguably one of the most exciting of the year.
80s purists may complain of a lack murderous wrestling personas armed with chainsaws, flamethrowers and exploding hockey pucks, but in its place is an explosion of charismatic, sweaty, underdog charm that recalls the halcyon days of Die Hard.

A gargantuan component of that is due to the acceptably chiselled work of superstar in waiting Glen Powell who carves himself out a foul-mouthed authority hater that’s ridiculously easy to get behind and root for even if the on-screen audience is hysterically screaming “hunt him down” at the top of their lungs. Seemingly merging the vulnerability of his chameleonic lead in Hit Man with the movie star dazzle of “Hangman” from Top Gun: Maverick, Powell manages to find the sweet spot of a character that pops his temper at the flick of a switch, but who somehow isn’t a raging, toxic, asshole as he dangles from the side of a building dressed in nothing but a bath towel. Helping to make Richards someone easy to get behind is an array of actors who seem itching to prove that they’ve also understood the assignment – Josh Brolin is all Machiavellian deals and protruding dental work while Lee Pace delivers a nice line in passive aggressive glasses polishing as the masked Hunter, McCone. However, possibly most fun of all is Coleman Domino’s super-pumped TV host who not only let’s the actor have a visible blast, but let’s him act as a frenzied hype man for the film itself as he bellows chants and catchphrases to the baying crowd.
However, while Wright marshals the booms and whoops with aplomb, the film also succeeds in making you feel genuinely uncomfortable by reminding how much like documentaries these dystopian movies are starting to get. A Kardashian mocking reality show and Arnie’s face on American money deliver wry jabs, but as Richards is required to film and post content about his journey that’s instantly manipulated by the evil media, the whole thing feels hauntingly familiar beyond just being a simple remake.

Bold, brassy and pumped with so much anti-authority I was fit to burst (it’s use of Underdog by Sly and the Family Stone is nothing short of stellar), Wright has seemingly managed the impossible – remaking a beloved 80s cheese fest completely while still retaining that clench-jawed energy and balls out, anything-goes humour. Glen Powell is exemplary, Wright is exemplary and with the equally badass Predator: Badlands also currently doing the rounds, it’s been a shockingly strong month for films that have spun out of Schwarzenegger classics. Don’t pause, don’t dawdle: if you want a thoroughly awesome action spectacle, get running, man.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟