Review: The Running Man (2025)

Posted by: Matthew Ardill  •  November 11, 2025 @ 2:00pm

Filed under: Reviews

Two films are in cinemas right now that have ties back to Arnold Schwarzenegger. One (Predator: Badlands) is embracing its past while the other (The Running Man) is rejecting it and, frankly, outright thumbing their nose at it (in the form of giant novelty sized bills).

Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver, Last Night in Soho) is a filmmaker who's thoroughly aware of the nature of the medium. His adaptation of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World embraces the medium of the comic book and brings it to the screen in an sense that is more aware than possibly any other comic book adaptation. His Cornetto Trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End) embraces the genres of zombie films, folk horror, and apocalyptic horror with open arms and elevates them via a sort of sideways deconstruction.

There is a Verhovenesque politic to this film, a stinging indictment of people as the product preached by Meta and Google. In a world where the media views you as a commodity, tracing your every second, how do we regain control of our lives? Very much in the vibe of Robocop, Wright attacks the modern entertainment state with digs at the Kardashians, tech bro icons like Musk and Zuckerberg, and even the entertainment industry. This is very much a political call to arms that, unsurprisingly, has the Stephen King seal of approval. Wright involved King not only in providing script approval but also in casting of the film. If you've had the joy of reading King's social media posts, you know this film is very aligned to his politics and lack of patience for the rot from the top down.

Set in a not-too-distant future, it's sometime after a governmental collapse that has corporate conglomerates privatizing police forces and assuming control over the American government (Canada somehow seems to have escaped this fate, which is nice to see Wright still loves us). The corporations control where we live, what we eat, and who employs us to the point they have desperate people lining up to take part in increasingly dangerous game shows just to make ends meet. This exploitation lands people in dangerous situations which often risk their lives for the chance at a few dollars (which may sound familiar to Mr. Beast fans).

All of this doesn't stray too far from the 1987 adaptation, but where we do see its variance (to much greater effect than the 2012 Total Recall remake) is it takes a hard left turn at casting. Instead of a super soldier fallen on bad times due to refusing to do the wrong thing (Arnold Schwarzenegger) we get Glen Powell (Twisters, Hit Man, Hidden Figures) as Ben Richards, a man who's been bumped from job to job for "insubordination", but really for just being a decent human being and looking out for others. In a desperate search to give his wife Shelia played by Jayme Lawson (Sinners, The Batman, The Woman King) and his sickly daughter a better life, he goes to apply to be on a game show to earn a few bucks and is presented with one path forward: be on The Running Man. Here, Josh Brolin is Dan Killian, in this adaptation the network head and the de facto face of the corporation running America (or at least his pocket of it). He is pulling the strings and trying to steer Ben to keep the public entertained and under the corporation's thumb. At one point he has a chilling monologue that is reminiscent of the worst of online discourse around social messaging in entertainment.

What to say about this film? The soundtrack is amazing (it is an Edgar Wright film after all), the pacing is perfect for an action movie – keeping it rolling but never overwhelming the audience – and the cast is stellar, including Lee Pace, Emila Jones, Colman Domingo, Daniel Ezra, Michael Cera, William H. Macy, and Sandra Dickinson as the most delightfully evil victim of dementia on screen. This is a film that I don't know how it got made – it's literally calling out the very system that allowed it to exist – but it is unflinching and deserves to be seen in cinemas.

Tags: The Running Man, Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo, Jayme Lawson, Emilia Jones, Lee Pace, Edgar Wright, Stephen King, Paramount

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