‘The Running Man’ review: ‘Hunger Games’ meets ‘Black Mirror’ in Edgar Wright’s dystopian thriller

“We’ve got the cash if you’ve got the balls!” So goes the money-grabbing maxim that powers the deadly gameshow at the heart of The Running Man, a vibrant adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 dystopian story. A loose take on the bleak story came in 1987, with Arnold Schwarzenegger as an imprisoned cop who gets his chance of a release by participating in the game.

This time, British director Edgar Wright (Baby Driver) delivers a more faithful version. Glen Powell stars as Ben Richards, a construction worker who is financially up against it after getting fired for speaking out over working conditions. His young child is sick and in need of expensive medication so, reluctantly, he auditions for The Running Man – one of several twisted reality shows designed by an all-powerful television network run by Josh Brolin’s slimy executive Dan Killian.

When Richards scores off the charts and is dubbed “the angriest man ever to audition for one of our shows”, he’s thrust into the limelight. Along with two others, he must survive for 30 days on the streets to win a top prize of $1billion. However a team of professional assassins, led by Lee Pace’s balaclava-wearing hunter Evan McCone, are out to find and kill while members of the public can join in too. It means everyone is a potential enemy. Even close friends such as William H. Macy’s old-timer Molie Jernigan don’t want to help out, worried about getting caught up in the violence the show provokes.

The best of Wright’s take on The Running Man comes in the first half, as he sets up a world where sphere-shaped, all-seeing Rover Cams buzz around in the sky, videoing everything. It’s a telling portrait of a corporate America (“the greatest country in the fucking universe”) that feels like a fascist state. Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 RoboCop did something similar and Wright mines a familiar strain of droll humour throughout.

Scripted by Wright and Michael Bacall (who previously wrote the director’s Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World), this near-future nightmare has been carefully thought out, right down to breakfast cereals called ‘Fun Twinks’. ‘Americanos’ is a fake reality show that Richards briefly catches on TV, where some Kardashian-alikes are arguing, with one bemoaning that another has borrowed her shoes as her feet smell like “dead mice”. Schwarzenegger cameos on a bank note.

Powell is a very watchable everyman, convincingly demonstrating the man of the people integrity of his character. There’s great work too from Colman Domingo as the show’s slick presenter Bobby T and Michael Cera, who plays a loose-cannon contact that Richards makes during his quest for survival. Wright also handles the explosive action well, orchestrating elaborate, kinetic set pieces that throb with excitement.

The down side is a narrative that gets repetitive in the second half, as Richards realises the game is rigged and he can never win against a network that sees him as ratings fodder. By the time Emilia Jones’ estate agent Amelia Williams gets caught up in Richards’ sprint for freedom, the story starts to feel stretched. But The Running Man is still a vibrant action-adventure, a neat companion to the recent One Battle After Another, with a revolutionary spirit coursing through its veins.

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