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Does the remake of The Running Man make the cut?
I bet that was the question on everybody’s mind when they watched the 2025 remake for the first time.
The 80s classic saw Arnold Schwarzenegger tear through professional assassins as he tried to survive in a TV show where life was cheap, and killing was seen as entertainment.
This new version, starring Glen Powell, William H. Macy, and directed by Edgar Wright, sees
the main character of Ben Richards, portrayed as a desperate father instead of the railroaded pilot he was in the original film.
Eventually, he enters the The Running Man – a city-wide game where he has the
chance to win one billion dollars – but only if he can outrun and out-survive the game’s
hunters for 30 hours.
Unlike the ’87 version, hunters are not Richards’ only problem, because now regular citizens can also hunt him down for cash prizes. It is an extra dynamic that adds an extra layer of tension to an already chaotic situation.
While the cat-and-mouse genre is nothing new, I still enjoyed my time with The Running Man and felt that it was a worthy successor, and I had a lot of fun.
Glen Powell makes a good ‘blue collar, everyman’ type of character, and Josh Brolin brings
his usual A-game as Dan Killian, the show’s producer. My only gripe is that he just can’t
replace the late great Richard Dawson, who in the 1987 film brought an evil smarminess to
the role that just cannot be beat.
I also miss the cheesy hunters, like Sub-Zero, Fireball, Captain Freedom, Buzzsaw, and
Dynamo.
Despite some negative reviews and not doing as well as expected at the box office, I enjoyed the movie. While it cannot replace the 1987 classic Arnie romp, I still came away with a smile on my face.
