★★★★☆ The Running Man (2025), directed by Edgar Wright
A fun dystopian chase movie
The Running Man (2025)
Directed by Edgar Wright
A fun dystopian chase movie
The Running Man is a new movie about an Everyman survivor in a dystopian near future. I saw it Saturday, 15-November-2025, just because I felt like seeing a movie in the theater, and that was what was available. I wasn’t looking for anything more than entertainment, and I got that. It was loud and violent (were you expecting anything different?) and it kept me on the edge of my seat for two hours. So, yeah, if you’re looking for mindless action movie fun, this is the kind of film you want. I know I sound supercilious, but honestly, I’m not. I don’t scorn “mere entertainment”—in fact, I love it. I respect movie-makers who can make a fun movie, and Wright and star Glen Powell delivered.
It’s based on a novel by Steven King, which I haven’t read. It was preceded by a 1987 film of the same name starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which I have not seen.
I do have thoughts about the film, but only because I’m the type of person who overthinks everything. I will share a few of my thoughts, but I’ll try to keep it buttoned down to a few paragraphs. Feel free to stop reading now.
The characters are not very interesting. It’s one of those movies in which every character seems to have been constructed by thinking of a type, then dialing it up to 11. We’re not doing subtle.
The world-building was more interesting. The USA no longer seems to have a functional government. Instead, a company called “The Network” runs everything. As part of running everything, The Network makes TV shows, and the top show is called The Running Man. In it a petty criminal is hunted down by a team of goons. If he survives 30 days he gets a billion dollars and is allowed to go free. In principle. In fact, this has never happened. The longest survivor lasted 29 days.
The construction of an American dystopia at this fraught time in American politics is of some interest. Although I may have been imagining it, I thought the goons (the guys trying to kill our hero Ben) looked rather like the images of ICE agents we’ve all become accustomed to over the last several months. I was also struck when, early in the film, Ben tells a cabbie to take him to “20th and Obama.” Thus there is a street named after Barack Obama in Ben’s home town, and the writers went out of their way to let us know that. It felt like a choice and a political statement to me. (Of what? Your guess is as good as mine.)
So, yeah, if you’re up for a loud, violent action film with facile ethics that will keep your attention and your sympathetic nervous system engaged for a couple hours, The Running Man is a good time.