This 2025 remake of the dystopian Stephen King novel sparks new life into the source material, and reaches for a timely message, but falls slightly short at the finish line.

Let’s put on one hell of a show. In director Edgar Wright’s new adaptation of Stephen King’s The Running Man, he taps Glen Powell to play Ben Richards — a struggling dad who spends his time watching game shows and dreaming of a better life for his family. His newborn daughter can’t get the medicine she needs, serving as the driving force for Richards attempting to get the prize money on the predominant network’s most dangerous show. 

The participants on the shows are looked down on, whether they’re the joke (as Richards watches one where trivia questions are asked to someone running on a wheel, no different than the moments in The Biggest Loser) or, in The Running Man, displayed to a wealthy live audience as thieves and criminals. They need an enemy to root for their demise, or a fool to laugh at, in the case of SNL alum Martin Herlihy playing a contestant who gets caught after flirting with the cashier. (Either Wright is one hell of a psychic, or he pulled from the headlines in real time.)

And, to absolutely no one’s surprise, Colman Domingo steals the show as the glamorous, over-the-top host Bobby Thompson. Unlike the 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, this version separates the showrunner and the host, similar to the way King wrote it. His fashion in this is impeccable, serving as a distraction to the brutality — probably clearest when two children are cheered on after setting contestant Laughlin (Katy O’Brian) on fire. 

While it’s a shocking scene, the action, however, tends to fall short, appearing in waves, rather than a straight thrill-ride. It’s difficult to not draw comparisons between The Running Man and The Long Walk, both for the title and their origins. The latter takes the time to allow the audience to form an emotional connection to the supporting characters, making it all the more gut-wrenching when they die. 

Yet, for where we are in 2025, Wright’s Running Man still feels like a fitting mirror. Debi Mazar delivers a spot-on impersonation of Kris Jenner on a mock version of Keeping Up with the Kardashians (or, rather, just The Kardashians now…) that is an inescapable presence in Richards’ running journey. There also doesn’t seem to be anything else on television besides these shows led by one major company, a notable parallel with the Warner Bros. Discovery sale and mergers in the streaming era. 

Wright also weaves in entertaining bits of humor to break up the tension, whether it’s the “Fun Twinks” cereal or Michael Cera setting up traps and a stripper pole in his house. 

However, the film’s climax does wind up being a tad difficult to follow, at least on first watch, as Richards, the lead hunter Evan (Lee Pace), and Killian shift dynamics often. Killian offers Richards a spin-off show, given he kills the other hunters, but he rejects the offer. While the hunters, including Evan, all do die, Richards pisses off Killian for the final time, seemingly resulting in his own demise in a plane crash.

Or does he? This becomes a point of confusion, as Killian’s frequent media manipulation on The Running Man leads to conspiracies about Richards still being alive, and makes the viewers question what they just witnessed. Did the plane crash even happen? Was the moon landing real? In an age filled with misinformation amid the rise of AI, these questions are still being asked today by the very celebrities Wright mocks in the film. 
While it might not be the most action-packed film ever made, it will, hopefully, get a new audience to sit with a reality they typically ignore.

Grade: B

Oscars Prospects:
Likely: None
Should be Considered: Best Visual Effects, Best Sound

Where to Watch: In Theaters