The Running Man
The world is not fair and the world is not kind, Ben Richards and his family eking out a living in the slums of Co-Op City, his young daughter needing urgent professional medical care which they cannot afford, he having been blacklisted for whistleblowing at his last job; needing money fast and with few options he makes what he knows to be a bad decision, applying to be a contestant on a television game show but finding himself fast tracked onto a higher risk production.
The working man become The Running Man, executive producer Dan Killian sees potential in Ben’s anger and his ethics, the top prize one billion new dollars if he can survive thirty days on the run while being hunted, believing he can be corrupted and with the tools to manipulate the game, Ben required to send daily video updates which can be faked to turn the audience against him, everyone wanting a piece of the action and encouraged to turn him in for reward.
Based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King published under the name of Richard Bachman and first filmed with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role in 1987, Shaun of the Dead’s Edgar Wright has returned much of the original narrative to his adaptation of The Running Man, co-written with Michael Bacall and starring Twisters’ Glenn Powell as Ben Richards, Dune’s Josh Brolin as Dan Killian, Quantumania’s Katy O’Brian as rival contestant Jenni Laughlin and Foundation’s Lee Pace as Evan McCone, masked leader of the hunters.
A strictly divided world of the haves and the have nots, out of control and with the masses sated and distracted with daily violence fed to the ubiquitous television sets found in every room, the truth is whatever is reported, inflammatory lies put in Ben’s mouth and broadcast, even those who would ally themselves with him questioning his motives and piggybacking their own agendas on his quest, while others are dragged under.
The opening act slow and Ben’s acceptance into auditions beyond the barriers where the wealthy live in blinkered comfort conveniently accelerated, with nods made to King in the hideout in Derry, Maine and Schwarzenegger in the touted currency The Running Man gains momentum when the games begin, a high-tech world of surveillance and low-tech disguises, misdirection and evasion, but never becomes as slick as Baby Driver nor as sharp as Hot Fuzz.
The whole feeling more focused on offering explosive spectacle than undercutting it with satire, The Running Man feels unbalanced, paying lip service to the class division which drives it but playing too much like a part of the machine which created it, Ben too clean a hero and Dan too obvious a target, Wright intent on pleasing the crowd rather than inciting them to challenge the entrenched real-world parallels, a film undeniably entertaining but far from incendiary.
The Running Man is currently on general release and also screening in IMAX
