THE RUNNING MAN movie poster | ©2025 Paramount Pictures

Rating: R
Stars: Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Lee Pace, Jayme Lawson, Katy O’Brian, Martin Herlihy, Colman Domingo|}Writers: Michael Bacall and Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright, based on the novel by Stephen King
Director: Edgar Wright
Distributor: Paramount
Release Date: November 14, 2025

THE RUNNING MAN is based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name, but it also draws inspiration from the 1987 feature film adaptation that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger (who makes what could be termed a prop cameo in the new film).

Writers Michael Bacall & director Edgar Wright (for those wondering why Bacall gets two writing credits, the solo name means he wrote by himself and the ampersand with Wright means they collaborated on other drafts) have updated the material to be more palatable for contemporary audiences. For one thing, it’s a lot less rapey (yay). For another, the hero doesn’t require the superstrength implied by Schwarzenegger’s unique physique. He just has to be up to the task.

Protagonist Ben Richards (played here by Glen Powell – the character name remains the same in all incarnations) just wants a job so he can pay for a doctor’s care for his feverish two-year-old daughter Cathy (Alyssa Benn and Sienna Benn).

Ben’s problem is that he’s been blackballed from pretty much all employment due to his habit of advocating for his fellow workers. The only thing still legally open to him is applying to be a contestant on a TV game show. Of these, THE RUNNING MAN pays the most and is also the most likely to end in the player’s death.

In this iteration of THE RUNNING MAN, there are three players, who can go wherever they want. They get a bit of a head start, and then they are tracked by Hunters from the network, led by the masked McCone (Lee Pace), who kill on sight unless they have other orders. The Hunters are abetted by a state-of-the-art tracking system, and since the government and the network are essentially the same entity, it has quite a reach. The generally broke populace is also encouraged to participate in the game with financial incentives for either killing players or calling in tips that aid the Hunters in their search.

On the flip side, the players get paid each time they kill a Hunter. Should any of the players survive the game’s thirty-day run, they will get a life-changing amount of money, plus the ability to relocate.

All the incentive Ben needs is that the players’ loved ones are put in a safe house and get whatever they need – i.e., as soon as he signs the contract, Cathy can go to the best hospital available.

For a man with anger issues evident to people who have just met him, Ben Richards controls himself remarkably well. We never see him lose it or even snap at anyone who doesn’t provoke him in a way that would challenge Gandhi to keep his cool. So, there’s a gap between who we’re told Ben is by the other characters, who keep saying he’s the angriest person they’ve ever encountered, and who we see Ben being.

This is a plot contrivance that is a place where the makers of THE RUNNING MAN seem to get a little swept up in the game show spin themselves. Otherwise, what played as exaggeration back in 1987 now comes off as practically the norm. Nearly all viewers know that “reality” shows are scripted, that competitions can be manipulated and that deepfakes can be done by regular folks, never mind TV show techies.

The action is huge and explosive and fiery and bloody in ways that current reality competition shows won’t do, partly because of legalities (so far, it’s not okay to kill contestants or have them kill other people) and partly because of budget (present-day networks like reality programming because it’s usually cheaper to make than scripted fare).

However, in its glee in the worst of human behavior, THE RUNNING MAN as a game show should surprise absolutely no one. THE RUNNING MAN the movie gets to have its flaming cake and eat it, too – we get gigantic fight scenes and stunts, but we and our main character are rooting against their source.

Powell is sympathetic and effective, if maybe a little too sane for Ben’s reputation. Josh Brolin as network chief Dan Killian adroitly mixes faux charm, swagger and smugness. Pace gives color to McCone. Lawson does all she can with the worried wife role, Katy O’Brian and Martin Herlihy are both fine as Ben’s fellow contestants, and Colman Domingo is pitch perfect as THE RUNNING MAN show’s host with the most.

King fans should keep an eye out for Easter eggs. One is the setting of a sequence in Derry, Maine, the site of King’s IT (where someone is worried about demons, no less).

THE RUNNING MAN is a well-executed large-scale shoot-‘em-up/blow-‘em-up with a backbone of social satire – the latter, alas, not as far away from the reality of what it’s sending up as we might wish.

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