“The Running Man” movie review: The angriest man in the world

If Schwarzenegger was once first running man was traveling at normal speed, missed Edgar Wright (“Baby Driver”, “Hot Fuzz”) now Arnie's successor Glen Powell a turbo booster and catapults the story to new heights. Full of social relevance and great action, this remake is much richer, goes more in-depth and stays closer to the King novel.

We find ourselves in a total surveillance world of all-powerful media corporations, in which a term like fake news has lost its meaning because there are no others anyway. The social gap is enormous and in order to cover up these grievances, low-level entertainment is used: permanent, brutal amusement of the brainwashed masses.

Changed rules of the game

Ben Richards is on the losing side of life, but in order to save his sick little daughter, after initial hesitation, he takes on the almost suicidal challenge of the “Running Man” show, which has received rave reviews across the country. Once he and two other candidates have been approved for shooting, they must manage to evade professional killers for 30 days. The winner is then supposedly financially secure for the rest of his life.

The rules of the game are explained in much more detail here than in the previous version: For example, they include the requirement that the running man must record a video message every day and put it in a public mailbox, otherwise he will automatically be considered disqualified. Another important difference from the previous film: This Richards is not a team fighter, but tries to make it on his own.

Not a new Arnie

On the other hand, what makes the new Running Man particularly likeable is that he is never portrayed as Superman. Although driven by incredible anger and will to survive, he cannot do it alone, but is always dependent on outside help and does not – like Arnie once did – take down one hunter after another with his bare hands in record time. Instead, the story is much more effectively narratively stretched over several weeks and we experience various individual fates of friends and allies: For example, there is a bizarre conspiracy theorist who has installed a lot of death traps in his large house, which he then sets off with relish in an emergency.

Angry citizen vs. media manipulator

Powell actually comes across as very friendly as Richards, but as soon as someone touches sensitive topics and gets too close to his family, for example, he can become incredibly angry. During a psychological test in preparation for the show, according to the expert, he revealed himself to be a real angry citizen. Josh Brolin, on the other hand, as a media mogul, becomes the diabolical chief manipulator who maintains a complete overview and steers the bloody games in a different direction at any time, which is why we as viewers can never be sure which of the new developments are fact or fiction.

Wright remains close to Stephen King

The novel, published by King in 1982 under the then pseudonym Richard Bachmann, actually takes place in 2025, which would also explain why Paramount is revisiting this template at this time (although the year is never mentioned in the film). Since the earlier version was anything but true to the original and only used a few loose motifs from the novel, we have now received a completely new film. It must actually be a double remake for Wright, because it seems like he's becoming an adult version here his “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”delivery. Only the ending deviates seriously from the original, but fortunately the chosen, more hopeful solution did not ruin the running man, but fits harmoniously into the story.

4 out of 5 elevator cabins with hand grenade acceleration