What if his name were Rudolph, though? (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures)
Starring: Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, Daniel Ezra, Jayme Lawson, Sean Hayes, David Zayas, Katy O’Brian, Martin Herlihy, Karl Glusman
Director: Edgar Wright
Running Time: 133 Minutes
Rating: R for Officially Sanctioned Hardcore Violence and the Profanity That Tends to Accompany It
Release Date: November 14, 2025 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: It’s time for one of those dystopian futures where a select few are fabulously rich while everyone else scrapes and scrounges through daily desperation. Society is pretty much completely controlled by a TV network known simply as “The Network,” whose slate mostly consists of dangerous and demeaning game shows. The crown jewel of their lineup is The Running Man, in which a trio of contestants try to avoid being killed by either a group of professional hunters or ordinary citizens for 30 days in the hopes of winning a billion “New Dollars.” Nobody’s ever made it all the way to the very end, though Killian (Josh Brolin), the show’s producer, believes he may have just found a legitimate contender in the form of Ben Richards (Glen Powell). Ben initially insists that he would rather just make some quick bucks and then get home safely to his wife and sick young daughter. But fae is asking him to not only emerge victorious, but also spark a revolution. That is, unless of course The Network just fully manipulates the narrative to its own specifications.
What Made an Impression?: I’d Buy That for a New Dollar!: This Running Man is the second adaptation of the 1982 novel of the same name by Stephen King (under his pen name Richard Bachman), following the 1987 version starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Interestingly enough, I wasn’t picking any of the typical King vibes (Save for a reference to Derry, Maine). Instead, this update directed by Edgar Wright feels more like a spiritual sequel to another 1987 movie: i.e., RoboCop. No wonder, as the dystopian-but-cool energy was strong in that era. And now I shall wrap up my initial point, as this paragraph has been a setup for me to say: I don’t want to live in a world in which The Running Man game show actually exists, though I do kind of want to live in the world where the MrBeast version exists.
That’s Ice Cold, Man: The official story propagated by The Network would have us believe that the Running Man contestants are unapologetically violent, depraved criminals, while their executors are true American criminals. But of course that’s a bunch of b.s., as Wright makes sure to show us the stark differences between Ben’s actual behavior and the Network’s fakery. I would like to tell you that the shameless lengths they go to are totally unrealistic, except that I’ve seen some of the propaganda perpetuated on my own TV by my own government. So I’ll instead say that these moments are occasionally a little too blunt for my taste, though I nevertheless appreciated the message.
Capitalism is Unavoidable: Occasionally The Running Man pulled me out of its invented reality with incursions by real life brands and stores. Yes indeed, there’s a lot of product placement in this movie, including a trip to a Shake Shack and a few other examples that I don’t remember specifically, but I can promise you that they were there. These moments are especially striking when juxtaposed with the fake products on display (like “Fun Twinks Cereal”) that feel more fitting in a fictional dystopia. I don’t know if this placement was a way to secure full financing for a perhaps risky blockbuster movie release, or if it was somehow part of the satire, or an attempted combination thereof. This is far from the most egregious example ever of this consumerist practice, but it did make me go “Hmm” much more than it made me go “You got ’em!”
One Last Hurrah: Before I conclude this review, I want to quickly say that overall, the cast is pretty commendable, especially Michael Cera, whose introduction is likely to catch you delightfully off-guard!
The Running Man is Recommended If You Lust For: The Golden Age of Dystopia
Grade: 3.5 Billion out of 5 Billion New Dollars
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