By Joel Williams 12/11/2025
Sitting in the cinema watching a dystopian science fiction film and yet I’m there thinking this is a socio-political satire that in many ways feels all too real. The biggest sentiment you can take from this film is fuck the bias propaganda media and their twisting of the truth, not just in the film but in real life too.
Glen Powell in “The Running Man” Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures
Set in an all too familiar dystopian world, “The Running Man’ follows Ben Richards a down on his luck man trying to support his family as he takes part in a competition where competitors need to survive whilst being hunted, not just by hunters but the whole world.
Directed by Edgar Wright of the Cornetto Trilogy fame and Baby Driver, “The Running Man” stars Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo and Lee Pace. Based upon the book of the same name written by legendary writer Stephen King this is the second film to be adapted from King’s book.
Film designed to entertain and it delivers on that with some interesting world building and set pieces that you can’t help but like. I love Edgar Wright he has and incredible trilogy in the Cornetto trilogy and Baby Driver is such a good, slick film but in “The Running Man” I can’t help but feel like he went missing. His style wasn’t all over this, there could be an element of expectation here as I expect such great things from him. He is usually a master at giving you the darkly comedic elements intertwined with seriousness but there comedy felt slightly disjointed here and didn’t work as well as his previous works for me. The action was directed fine but it could have been slicker, there were flashes but not at the level you expect it to be directed at here, by no means bad it’s still highly enjoyable.
Scarily relevant to our current lives in some of the themes, we see the social class divide and the distribution of wealth in a capitalist society. Money isn’t a commodity our main character has in spades and every little helps his family and we see these very real motivations control his decisions through the film. Media controlling the narrative to benefit themselves and their own government is explored through the lens of the exec and Ben and there becomes a revolution but it feels abrupt in it’s creation and very quickly explained by a couple of characters before we get to the ending which just about stays on it’s feet as it rushes to a head. When the comedy hits it hits, the political satire bit are equally as funny as they are scary however on the flip side there are times it falls a little flat. I will be perfectly honest here I’m so excited to see Americans say this is really funny completely oblivious to the fact it’s a critique of them.
Glen Powell in “The Running Man” Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures
Glen Powell is just far too likeable too ever dislike in a role, he has the right charisma to make a role his own. He’s once again pretty good here, quite funny he’s had 2 roles in the past 2 years where he wears a fake moustache, and he has the ability to be a new generations action hero and I’m all for it. Colman Domingo is just a wonderful human being and there will never be another bad word to say about him, he’s so fun here and clearly having a great time doing it. The rest of the supporting cast are completely fine, Josh Brolin didn’t have much to play with being the shallow, greedy executive. “The Running Man” very much centres on Powell and that’s one of its strengths when you have that charm as the forefront.
You can’t deny it’s entertainment factor and this will be a hit among many and the masses which is a great thing for film. For fans of specific artists it may not meet your expectations through some simple direction and lack of signature filmmaking which could have taken this from good to great. Has the correct charm to keep you invested and some fun set pieces it’s absolutely recommend for a good time.
In UK cinemas November 12th
