The Running Man

THE RUNNING MAN (18)

D: Paul Michael Glaser

Rank/Braveworld (Tim Zimmerman & George Linder)

US 1987

101 mins

Action/Science Fiction

W: Steven E. de Souza [based on the novel by Richard Bachman (Stephen King)]

DP: Thomas Del Ruth

Ed: Mark Roy Warner, Edward Warschilka & John Wright

Mus: Harold Faltermeyer

PD: Jack T. Collis

Arnold Schwarzenegger (Ben Richards), Maria Conchita Alonso (Amber Mendez), Richard Dawson (Damon Killian), Yaphet Kotto (William Laughlin), Marvin J. McIntyre (Harold Weiss), Mick Fleetwood (Mick), Jesse Ventura (Captain Freedom)

Though it may be based on a novel by Stephen King (under the pseudonym Richard Bachman), this is very much tailored to take advantage of it's star. In fact, very little remains of the original story, but this is arguably what film adaptations are for.

Set in a dystopian future where a public execution arena is staged as a game show, a disgraced cop, framed for the murder of thousands has to fight for his freedom against a group of "stalkers", this dark future's equivalent of celebrity sportsmen, with a thirst for blood and deadly arsenal of weapons.

Like the same year's Robocop (qv), The Running Man takes great mirth in satirising media and violence, which it does incredibly well. Schwarzenegger may not win many awards for his acting, but this film is perfect for him, giving him many memorable pay off lines which he practically built his filmstar career on.

Some parts of the film haven't dated particularly well, specifically some aspects of the production design, visual effects and its TV movie-of-the-week direction.

7/10

Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Running Man

Survive 30 days while the world hunts you down

THE RUNNING MAN (15)

D: Edgar Wright

Paramount / Kinberg Genre / Complete Fiction (Simon Kinberg, Nira Park & Edgar Wright)

UK/US 🇬🇧🇺🇸 2025

123 mins

Action/Science Fiction/Thriller

W: Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright [based on the novel by Stephen King]

DP: Chung Chung-hoon

Ed: Paul Machliss

Mus: Steven Price

Glen Powell (Ben Richards), Josh Brolin (Dan Killian), Colman Domingo (Bobby T), Lee Pace (Evan McCone), Michael Cera (Elton Parrakis), Emilia Jones (Amelia Williams)

The 1987 adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 novel was far from perfect, but as a cheesy action flick, it served its purpose perfectly, and its biggest critic was none other than King himself.

Personally, I felt it would be a project where a remake would serve the book well if was more faithful to the original material, but sadly, this 2025 adaptation is a massive disappointment.

The 1987 Schwarzenegger film saw an innocent man framed for a crime he didn’t commit and fighting for his own survival. This retelling stars Glen Powell as an angry man doing it for his destitute family, and that’s all the motivation his character seems to have.

Coerced into appearing on ‘The Running Man’ game show, he has to survive in the wild for 30 days and evade not only a team of soldiers, but public citizens who can gain financially by providing tipoffs and other information.

It does the plot an injustice by not having larger-than-life ‘stalker’ characters with a various subset of skills, only to replace them with soldier henchmen who may as well be clones, but that’s not the weakest thing about this movie.

The film just doesn’t know what it wants to be; black comedy, science-fiction satire, full on action or survival thriller, and when it finally decides to pick a lane, Michael Vera’s character is introduced to remind us all that this is an Edgar Wright movie and it has to be cartoonishly quirky.

There are some positives, as some of the action set piece scenes are well directed, with decent stunt choreography and effects, and Glen Powell does a decent job considering the character of Ben Richards is so poorly written. I’ve pointed out some negatives in the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle, particularly in its visual style, that feels like it was made for TV, but in hindsight, it’s a look which serves the film well, since it revolves around a television show. The visual style here isn’t so much an issue, it’s just a really flat adaptation, grounded in reality (for the most part), with an underwhelming finale, especially with the scenes that feel as though they were the subject of reshoots because the filmmakers and studio didn’t really know how to end it.

2025 was actually a good year for King adaptations with ‘The Life of Chuck’ and ‘The Long Walk’. Sadly, ‘The Running Man’ doesn’t round off the trifecta.

5/10