The Running Man-2025
Director Edgar Wright
Starring Glen Powell
Scott’s Review #1,557
Reviewed November 13, 2026
Grade: B
Based on Stephen King’s 1982 novel, The Running Man (2025) is the second adaptation to hit the silver screen.
The forgettable 1987 offering starring Arnold Schwarzenegger set the bar quite low for another film to be worthy of the book.
While the 1987 version is cartoonish and superfluous, the 2025 version adds some depth and low-key messages, making it feel more socially important in these troubled times.
In a near-future dystopian society, The Running Man is the top-rated television show, causing an obsession among viewers. It’s a deadly competition where contestants, known as Runners, must survive 30 days while being hunted by professional assassins.
Every move is broadcast to a bloodthirsty public, and each day fans have a chance to earn cash rewards for helping to capture the Runner.
Working-class Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is convinced by the show’s charismatic but scheming producer, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), to enter the game as a last resort.
Ben desperately needs money to pay for health care for his ailing daughter.
But Ben is smarter than other Runners. He discovers the game’s corrupt, manipulative nature, where the public is fed false information. He becomes determined to defy the system and bring back the truth.
Director Edgar Wright keeps the action pulsating and fast-paced throughout, adding snippets of clever satire, though a good fifteen minutes or so could be trimmed.
The editing is impressive, especially during the car chase, bombing, and a terrifying airplane sequence that concludes the film. Engulfing fireballs, deadly parachute jumps, and a gun shootout aboard the flight are highlights of the action.
The main creative attraction, though, is the art direction. The first half of the film is set in Co-Op City, New York City, and finally Boston, featuring visually dark, slick modern sets.
Most of the street activity is wonderful, with sophisticated architecture looming in the background, especially powerful in the night sequences. Carefully lit windows and colorful store or restaurant sets add so much to the film’s artistry.
When they get to rural Derry, Maine, an ode to Stephen King, a lavish country mansion is a main backdrop. The massive structure features all sorts of passageways and private rooms.
The story is second-rate and implausible, naturally. The very idea of a man continually outrunning or bombing his sniper foes soon becomes silly. Ben manages to escape explosions via a drainpipe or a cavalcade of armed men seemingly at will.
Still, credit goes to Glen Powell for bringing a ton of charisma and confidence to the role and not just being a pretty-faced, marginally decent actor.
Sure, he looks great bare-chested or in a tank top that displays his tight, muscular physique, which filmmakers liberally showcase, but he also makes Ben likable and someone the audience wants to root for.
Other than Michael Cera, who plays rebel Elton Parrakis and Ben’s sidekick, the supporting cast includes big names like Brolin, Sean Hayes, William H. Macy, and Colman Domingo, who have little to do.
Brolin and Domingo have the more prominent roles but overact, making their characters purely villainous (Brolin) and played for comedy (Domingo).
And Macy’s and Hayes’s roles are so small that by the end I had nearly forgotten they were even in it.
From a political standpoint, many of the hungry, addicted viewers are patterned after MAGA individuals. Trashy, uneducated, and easily taken in, they represent moronic American citizens bamboozled by the powerful.
A wonderful example of inclusion is making Ben’s wife Black and, therefore, their daughter mixed-race.
Finally, a terrific scene occurs between Ben and an affluent woman who quickly becomes an ally, showing the disconnect between the haves and the have-nots in society.
The piss poor United States health care system is also challenged.
The film incorporates small messages throughout the action to remind viewers of the absurd power imbalance.
The Running Man (2025) is a high-octane affair with a strong progressive stance and plenty of visual treats. It’s a gripping, entertaining thrill ride with just a little more.
