The Running Man is one of those films that is either a perfectly classic action movie or yet another nondescript remake of a previously successful movie. Unfortunately, it surely falls into the latter category.
When Ben Richards (Glen Powell) enters into a deadly game competition, called The Running Man, in hopes of earning money for his wife Sheila Richards (Jayme Lawson) and sick daughter Cathy Richards (Alyssa and Sienna Ben), he finds himself shoved into a rigged game. Set in a dystopian future, with an authoritarian government based on misinformation to turn the whole country against him, Ben has no hope of surviving the 30 days. With hunters chasing him to win the prize money, and each action he takes being used to fuel propaganda-inspired fervor, Ben decides to fight to the last second for a better future for his family.
The main complaint I have with this film is not the plot; adapted from a dystopian thriller by Stephen King, and a remake of The Running Man (1987), the idea of a deadly game show is interesting and has clearly been loved by many in the past. However, the entire movie felt forced, a feeling not aided by its rushed ending.
By the time the end credits rolled, I found that any appreciation I had for The Running Man had disappeared. It is clear that the film spent too much time focused on Ben’s heroic actions inspiring the poor and disillusioned, and not enough time on developing a believable ending.
It was as though Ben’s life was an afterthought; the writers found an improbable way to keep him alive after a fight scene that almost surely should have ended in his death. In terms of the corrupt government, the rioting scenes at the end of the movie were supposed to make the viewer assume the government had been toppled because of a blogger’s conspiracy theory around Ben’s role in the game. This not only made the ending entirely improbable, but also meant that Ben’s valiant actions were undercut by the sheer luck of the ending of the movie.
“All the good guys survive, and the government falls apart” shouldn’t always be the mantra for a dystopian film. The Running Man clearly would have benefited from a more realistic ending that didn’t echo that of a Disney kids’ movie. I was generally engrossed in the movie until the last fifteen or so minutes.
As for the other aspect of The Running Man that had potential, yet came up drastically short, was its satirical approach to modern society. For instance, the show The Americanos appeared numerous times throughout the film, clearly as a parody of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Rather than seeming humorous and subtle, its irrelevance was only bolstered by the frequency at which the reference appeared. With Artificial Intelligence (AI) parallels seen throughout the film, along with satirical mentions of current governments, it was too obvious what the directors were trying to imply.
I’m not inherently opposed to what the directors were attempting through these modern references, but their rate of occurrence and obvious parallels made them all feel forced. Along with random product placements such as the water brand Liquid Death, the parodies to the current day only distracted from the dystopian setting and interesting plot.
However, I was relatively interested in the dystopian game show idea, and I think almost all characters were well portrayed by their respective actors. The Running Man clearly had a high budget and the plot to back it up, but at the end of the day, its ending and forced satirical elements made it fall drastically short.
