The Running Man - Old vs New

Poster

Before I dive into the remake and more faithful to the book adaptation of The Running Man, a quick look back at the original.

While the original with Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't as faithful to Stephen King novel, it was pure 80s goofy action. The "Stalkers" were over the top bad guys with equally over the top costumes. Big action sequences with a very Arnold one-liner every time he killed a bad guy...

Subzero - "Subzero, now, PLAIN-zero."

Buzzsaw - "Oh he had to split"

Fireball - "How about a light?" before blowing him up.

The game show, the dystopian future, the state run media that outright lies...pretty much where the similarities began and ended. And I love it. It's just a fun popcorn 80s action movie with one of the best action stars of the time. Always worth a watch if you want something you don't want to think to much about while watching.

Jump forward 40 years and of course, a remake had to be made.

The remake stars Glen Powell as Ben Richards. He's been blacklisted for talking to a whistleblower to protect his crew workers. He also has a bit of a temper which doesn't help him much when trying to find any kind of work.

Problem is in this future, the US is run by an authoritarian media network...far fetched, I know. Viewers are poor and with very little access to needed health care...again, far fetched, I know.

Richards' baby girl is sick, with the flu, and needs medicine he can't afford. So, he decides to go to the try outs to get onto a game show to hopefully afford some medicine and put them in a situation where they don't have to worry about money for a while. He promises he won't go out for The Running Man, the most dangerous of all the games.

Opitcal flip

So, he ends up on The Running Man. Three contestants. 30 Days. Survive the 30 days with stalkers and the entire world ready to turn you into those stalkers, you get $1 billion. Game on.

Richards begins the fight of his life. Not for himself, but for his family. The people he loves most in the world.

Edgar Wright is one of my favorite directors...The Cornetto Trilogy, Scott Pilgrim, Last Night in Soho. All these are beautifully shot movies. Crisp cinematography, intense cuts when it calls for it. He always goes big. It always looks great.

There were a lot of intense action sequences, as you get in a run for your life movie. The other two contestants don't last very long, so most all of the ratings hinge on Richards. The first contestant was an idiot and was caught shopping at the store. The second one, she got cocky...because the Network was letting her get away with not being caught. In the end, a drunken car chase ends in her getting killed by a couple of country hick kids. What a way to go.

Richards is aided on his journey by members of the Anti-Network underground. These people know that they're being lied to and want people to see the truth. One of the guidelines of the game is for them to send videos every day. A vlog showing they're still around and kicking. Ben tries to use this to expose the truth of the network, but of course its digitally altered and deep faked him saying things against the poor people who were cheering him on. A network altering video for personal gain...far fetched, I know.

Are we sensing the theme of this? And King wrote this in 1982. Despite the eerie similarities of what seems to be coming faster and faster...this remains what it is, a work of fiction. A black mirror.

The movie does a good job towing that line between being a little too real and building up this fictitious world. Powell has fun with Richards. A perfect mix of psychotic anger and just having fun with the situation he's in. You feel for him as a man who just wants to help his family.

He just wants to give his baby girl some medicine. Take care of his family, but he and so many others are in impossible situations and can't claw their way out. Where this network and these dumb games are the only way they can get any real money.

The movie did feel like it dragged on in certain points. It could have been edited down a little more to be two hours or less. Fun movie, though. The action sequences keep you engaged and as mentioned, Powell was great in the role.

While I would probably pick the original over this (for the fun one liners alone), this is a good remake and more close to the source material. Even Stephen King himself enjoyed it.

This is definitely a movie to see if you love action movies and Stephen King movie based ones. See in theaters for the scope, watch at home if you prefer an intimate setting. Kick back and enjoy the fun.

4/5