The Running Man review: Glen Powell shines in this slick, propulsive and razor-edged crowd-pleaser
Director: Edgar Wright Cast: Glen Powell, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Colman Domingo, Josh Brolin Rating: ★★★★ Filmmaker Edgar Wright takes another swing at dystopian spectacle with his remake of The Running Man, revisiting the world first imagined by Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) and later turned into that wildly camp 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle. This time, Glen Powell steps into the crosshairs, armed with Edgar’s pop-slick energy and a story whose 2025 setting suddenly doesn’t feel like fiction anymore. Glen Powell in a still from The Running Man At its core, The Running Man still follows Ben Richards, an everyday American pushed to the brink by a corporate-run state. Unable to find work after speaking up about unsafe conditions and desperate to afford medicine for his young daughter, he decides to enter “the biggest show on earth,” a televised blood sport that turns human survival into prime-time entertainment. It’s simple: stay alive for 30 days while a team of state-approved assassins hunts you. Win a billion dollars. Lose, and you’re another …
