Stephen King has not enjoyed all of the movie adaptations of his novels. This is not a surprise, considering his vast output; there’s a lot of room to disappoint the creator of all those books and stories.
He famously disliked Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining for straying from his original vision, and he disliked The Running Man with Arnold Schwarzenegger enough to have his real name removed from the project, replaced with his pseudonym Richard Bachman (the original author credit for the novel).
So here comes another take on The Running Man, this time helmed by the very reliable Edgar Wright and boasting a narrative much closer to the original story. The result is a near miss that had a lot of promise, but lags too much in the middle—and falls flat on its face in the end.
Glen Powell replaces Arnie as Ben Richards, a down-on-his-luck dude looking to make some quick cash to take care of his family. The world he inhabits has been taken over by reality TV, including The Running Man, where three contestants attempt to evade hunters—and a public seeking them out for reward—in order to score a huge cash prize.
While the original was very campy, with Richard Dawson from The Family Feud as the main villain and host/producer of the show, this one has a more serious, action-oriented tone. It gets rid of the separate hunters with superpowers and makes them one team of faceless bad guys. This change is OK.
However, the film suffers from a surprising lack of variety and stimulating dialogue. This is the first mostly dull and sloppy film of Wright’s career; he’s a man who hadn’t made a subpar movie until now (with Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World among his credits). Powell is likable enough as the protagonist, but perhaps a little too grating when his character goes into rage mode. Josh Brolin is good as the show’s evil producer, while Colman Domingo is solid but underdeveloped as the host.
After a quick start, the film heads into a meandering middle and, ultimately, a final act that doesn’t save things. In the end, it’s not a terrible movie; but it’s far from good.
Second takes at King adaptations usually don’t pan out. The Running Man joins The Shining, Pet Sematary, Carrie and Firestarter, among others, that fail in their attempt to please both the masses and King.
There have been rumblings in the past of a second run at Maximum Overdrive. Now that one, which was directed by King himself, could only get better.
