The Running Man (2025)

The Running Man (2025) is a much more accurate adaptation of the 1982 Stephen King (as Richard Bachman) novel than the 1987 version with Arnold Schwarzenegger, with some changes that were bound to happen as well as some others that weren’t.

I had fun.

Edgar Wright doesn’t go as wild with the camera as he often has before, appropriate as the comedy side falls away about the end of act two, though he does get some odd POV shots in there.

Typically nice soundtrack including some pointed track choices. (I was kind of surprised not to get Temple Of Dreams by Messiah but always happy to hear The Truth from Handsome Boy Modeling School.)

The original was the most 1987 film ever made - compare Predator where the macho posturing and a hand-animated electricity effect are the only things that date it - but this one looks back to other 80s dystopias, with Max Headroom for the omnipresent and untrustworthy media and “twenty minutes into the future” mix of retro and futuristic tech - doubly apt as the 1982 novel is set in 2025 - as well as RoboCop levels of advertising satire and occasional carnage.

And for all that it’s surprisingly hopeful.

Look at all the people willing to help Ben on the way, both for the cause and just for human fellowship.

Since TV fakery is a feature, having a couple of dream sequences as well was maybe a bit much.

I think the tacked-on-feeling endings could have worked if more ambiguous, and maybe just one of them.