The Running Man ‘25

• Produced and Directed by Edgar Wright
• November 5, 2025 (Odeon Luxe Leicester Square) / November 12, 2025 (UK) / November 14, 2025 (US)
• Based on the 1982 novel The Running Man by Stephen King

A man desperate for cash participates in a game show where contestants are allowed to go anywhere in the world while followed by ‘hunters’ out to kill him.

Not sure if The Running Man ‘25 is a more accurate version of the story but based on its name alone it has the misfortune of being immediately compared to an Ahnuld film partially buoyed by 80s nostalgia even if it was a film directed like a TV movie. Schwarzenegger’s name is intricately connected with the concept. Perhaps more so than Stephen King as Richard Bachman who wrote the book from which it derives its name.

It doesn’t help produced/director Edgar Wright drops remembrances/little references and what not to Schwarzenegger and his version. There are moments when this film veers incredibly close to its predecessor and then moves away from it. You can almost remember scenes from the first film as it parallels them or attempts some type of fresh spin.

In this version Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is not a cop framed by the government, but a married-with-kid blacklisted blue collar laborer forced to get on the gameshow to get his kid to a doctor. Not sure how fast he expected any winnings to make it to his family. Given the functioning of this future and Ben’s clear anger management issues not sure how he isn’t single and very homeless. With dissent and counter-societal actions tracked and immediately acted upon it strikes me as impossible for him to have a roof over his head.

When it gets away from the paralleling/referencing the Schwarzenegger classic, The Running Man ’25 becomes quite a good film. It makes commentary on media manipulation and corporate indifference. There are themes of the government not caring while it crushes the little guy with the only true solution being a revolution against the system. It is definitely a message movie. There’s no escaping that but it’s not a message film that overwhelms you with a message at the cost of the story it needs to tell to deliver that message. This is certainly an overt commentary on the current state of the country by the filmmakers. No doubt about it. It just makes a very good case for its view. 

This is 2 hours and 14 minutes with extended action sequences which are almost necessary given that it takes place around a show which has action sequences in it. The problem is they all go on just a little too long. There’s a little bit too much talking and the filmmaker is a little too in love with modern effects.

It needed to cut its run time. Not a lot, but just a little bit. Keep things moving with a sense of danger and it all coming quickly to a head. For example, we don’t need to know every backstory of why people are against the system. If they are downtrodden, it is enough motivation. They’re being crushed by whatever the politics of the time are.

Perhaps accidentally it suffers at moments from white savior but it does a good job of making commentary while sprinkling the film with moments of action. As The Running Man ‘25 gets closer and closer to the finale, it gets the audience to feel that no matter how successful our hero might be there is no actual win for him. It even screws with your head a little bit on what is truth and what is fakery. I honestly didn’t know what to believe that any character was saying.

Glen Powell isn’t bad as Ben Richards. There is authenticity in his performance that was not present in the ’87 version. I just wish he was in less shape to make his abject poverty more believable. He does not look like he lives at a gym but is too toned to be struggling. Josh Brolin as producer Dan Killian is an almost charming and indifferent type of evil. He’s not doing anything because he’s a bad guy. It’s just what he gets paid to do. Not quite the villain of the first film, Colman Domingo takes on hosting duties of the fictitious series as Bobby “Bobby T” Thompson and is as flamboyant as Richard Dawson was though not as evil. And Jayme Lawson as Ben’s wife Sheila? She’s okay. Her part is very minimal. She is just to be the thing in the story that keeps Ben motivated. 

I found myself actually liking this movie. Not a great film, but an enjoyable film. It had some star power in extended cameos that could get distracting since outside of this they generally take larger roles. Annoying in a well-acted and otherwise well-crafted movie with a good idea behind it.

Having loved the first film I had to take in The Running Man ‘25. I expected to be bored and end up hating it but was pleasantly surprised. It’s not a masterpiece, but it is a very good film that by the end becomes its own thing and worthy of viewing.