Edgar Wright’s The Running Man mixes action with bite
EDGAR Wright’s The Running Man grabs you from the first minute and barely lets go. It is loud, tense and constantly in motion, an anxiety-filled chase that somehow still finds time to say something real about the world we live in.
Based on Stephen King’s 1982 novel, this new version feels truer to the source than the 1987 Schwarzenegger film, swapping out campy spectacle for grit, style and purpose.
Game built on desperation
The story takes place in a future where the rich live in luxury while the poor are left to rot in slums. Their only way out is The Running Man, a game show where contestants must survive 30 days while being hunted for entertainment.
Glen Powell plays Ben Richards, a struggling father trying to earn money for his sick child. What begins as a fight for survival turns into a fight against the entire system that exploits him.
Wright’s most focused film yet
You can feel Wright’s fingerprints all over this. The camera work is sharp, the cuts are quick, the humour is witty and the pacing of every scene feels deliberate. It has the precision and pulse of Baby Driver (2017), but with a heavier message.
Each chase sequence is packed with movement and energy, yet the story never loses its emotional centre. The tension builds naturally, scene after scene, without ever feeling overdone.
World that feels too familiar
The film doubles as a brutal look at inequality and media control. It paints a society obsessed with watching people suffer for fun, and a system that feeds off the pain of the poor. Viewers cheer as others die and the truth is buried under a flood of fake headlines. It feels like a warning wrapped in a blockbuster.
When truth becomes entertainment
One of the film’s strongest ideas is how it treats artificial intelligence (AI). Josh Brolin’s character Dan Killian is a slick, ruthless showrunner who uses AI to rewrite footage, deepfake faces and twist the truth to fit his narrative.
Wright does not over-explain it – he just shows how easily technology can turn lies into spectacle. Those scenes are some of the most disturbing in the film because they feel so close to reality.
Strong performances all round
Powell shines as Ben Richards, a decent man pushed too far, while Brolin is chilling as Killian, the sociopathic producer. Colman Domingo oozes charisma with incredible line deliveries as Bobby T, the smirking host of The Running Man, Michael Cera brings rebellious confidence as Elton, and Lee Pace impresses as Chief McCone, the calm yet terrifying hunter.
More hopeful than it sounds
Even with all its violence and cynicism, the film never feels hopeless. Unlike The Long Walk, another King adaptation released this year that dealt with deadly game shows in a dystopian society, The Running Man burns with defiance. Where The Long Walk ended in exhaustion and silence, this film builds toward uprising and noise.
Wright turns King’s bleak world into one fuelled by anger and unity, showing that rebellion, however small, can still shake the system. By the final act, the cracks begin to widen and for once, the audience on-screen and off starts to see through the lies.
Blockbuster with conscience
The Running Man works as a white-knuckle thriller and a smart piece of social commentary. It is angry but not preachy, fast but never empty. Wright turns a simple story about a man on the run into a mirror held up to our own world. It asks what we are willing to watch, who we are willing to believe and what it might take to finally stop running.
