The Running Man, directed by Edgar Wright and starring Glen Powell, is an adaptation of the eponymous 1982 Stephen King novel. Set in a futuristic world where “The Running Man” is a top-rated show on a television network, where contestants must survive a 30-day competition while being hunted by professional assassins and the audience.
For the most part, The Running Man is a fun film. ‘Fun’ seems like a bad word to describe a movie, so maybe I should choose the word ‘enjoyable’. The film keeps you engaged, and the performances from the cast are solid. Glen Powell has a great screen presence, Colman Domingo plays his role with the right amount of camp, and Michael Cera is delightful. Lee Pace, however, was the standout, delivering a fully fleshed character arc, questioning the motivations of characters and being memorable with extremely short screen time.
The problem lies, though, with the writing. Bacall and Wright deliver a narrative that is filled with opportunities; however, the script doesn’t commit to the premise of the book. With a clunky third act that causes much of the characterisation, world-building, and beliefs of the film to fall flat. The film fails to tie a complex narrative with numerous aspects to it. Also, the Monster advert is one of the most blatant pieces of product placement I’ve seen all year.
The greatest problem for me was the lack of a strong emotional core, which causes the importance of this film and its real-world analogies to go astray. Overall, I would say the film has an interesting premise and strong performances, but lacks strong writing to hold the narrative together to bring the movie to greater heights.
