Ticket 2 Ride

Saturday Night at the Movies: The Running Man (2025)

A man literally running fit his life on a reality show to get his family out of poverty. That’s the premise of The Running Man. I wasn’t a huge fan of the 1987 adaption of the Stephen King novel. The 1982 book was published under his pseudonym Richard Bachman, it was adapted for the screen by Steven E. de Souza, who wrote 48 Hrs,, Commando, Die Hard, Judge Dreed, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, amongst others. The film version was directed by Michael Paul Glaser, who played Starsky on Starsky & Hutch before moving into television and feature film directing.

King, who did not like the original adaptation, but was impressed with the new one, writing this on X: “I’ve seen it and it’s fantastic. DIE HARD for our time. A bipartisan thrill ride.”

Edgar Wright, who was offered the 2025 project, said he wasn’t interested in doing a remake. He explained that he wanted to go back to the novel and reimagine it.

Wright, who has often worked with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, has directed Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Baby Driver, Last Night in SoHo, amongst others. Wright handles action and sarcasm well; his films with Pegg and Frost are great fun. I wish he would have given the Richards character more quirkiness and laughs.

In the role of Ben Richards is Glen Powell. Powell has starred in film Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Anyone but You (2023), Hit Man (2023) and Twisters (2024). Richards was played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the original film. Not to spend a lot of time comparing the films, but I had a difficult time accepting Powell in this role. Powell is a decent actor, but he didn’t fit the character. He’s a handsome and physically fit actor like Ben Afflect, Brad Pitt, Luke Wilson, Paul Rudd, etc., and, but he’s too clean and refined for Richards. I imagine Richards as rough around the edges, not the stylish haircut and perfect, sparkling teeth. This is not Powell’s fault, he did the best with what he was given. Powell’s career is very bright.

William H. Macy, Michael Cera, Katy O’Brian, Colman Domingo, Josh Brolin, Sean Hayes, Emilia Jones were in the supporting cast. Macy appears in what is a cameo, providing fake documents and disguises to Richards. Brolin is particularly good as the slick Running Man producer, who will promise anything for ratings and is always a step ahead of the action. Cera has a small role as the doomsday-prepared rebel who helps Richards escape while blowing up everything in their path.

Richards must stay alive, ahead of the men hunting him, for 30 days. Bonuses are built in for achieving certain goals. Richards has no other options but to appear on the Running Man TV reality show to earn enough money to rescue his family and get them to a better place. The deck is stacked against Richards and he knows it. Somehow he must survive and figure out a way to turn the tables on the show.

I found the film enjoyable and entertaining, but it fell short of my expectations. This film gets a C as a grade. Powell gave it a great effort, as did the other actors. The script had some weak parts and failed to take advantage of the material. Wright has directed better films. He had a lot of money to spend, it certainly was on the screen, but the problem was the script and some casting issues.