The Running Man (2025)
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Glen Powell, Alyssa Benn, Sienna Benn
Genre: Terminate
Like so many films, this year’s The Running Man is entertaining, ridiculous and only vaguely alludes to big issues. It also isn’t greatly relevant to science despite being a science fiction film. Curiously, this is how I also remember the original 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger that was also based on the Stephen King (Richard Bachman) story.
Even more curious (or more likely coincidental) is that the Stephen King story was set in 2025. So is it therefore insightful and relevant?
Well, not much. It starts off with a Squid Game feel as the competitors fight for survival while trying to achieve massive cash payouts. Squid Game was a great South Korean TV series which was very popular – even with my teenage boys, which suggests that they may be a target audience for the film.
As the movie progresses there are social media, AI and American political and economic factors that are barely and indirectly the subject of the film – a lost opportunity! Indeed, it’s probably only deeply thinking viewers and overthinking film reviewers that even notice that!
The second half of the film is very action-based with plenty of violence as the main competitor attempts to survive and fight back. It may be very exciting but much of it doesn’t make sense and avoids logic, though maybe that’s a deliberate American politics reference!
Ultimately, this year’s The Running Man is worth watching so long as you don’t have any Great Expectations – another example of a better original book than the subsequent films.
Rating: Two and a half Kings
