by Samuel Nichols, Contributing Writer
Say what you want to about the current political state of the world, but sometimes you just gotta get in the faces of your audience. You can also say what you want about director Edgar Wright’s style, but the man has the sauce. Third and most front-facing, I’ve not heard anyone say anything negative about Glen Powell, because the man is a movie star — an old-fashioned movie star. Those three combine to make The Running Man. It also helps that Stephen King penned the book the movie is adapting. You put that all in a bowl and add in some crazy action, and you’ve got the makings of a fun, flawed, and very watchable movie.
The Running Man hunts down Ben Richards (Powell) as he runs across a not-so-dissimilar-from-today’s America. Ben has entered a contest wherein he has 30 days to survive being killed and/or reported to the authorities. If he lives through that, he’ll win an ungodly amount of money that will set up his wife Sheila (Jayme Lawson) and infant daughter for life. Show producer Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) will throw his best killer McCone (Lee Pace) and more than a few other threats at Ben. But our man on the run is more than capable of handling himself.
First of all, this movie is incapable of subtlety. Ben is a have-not with a heart of gold and a temper. The perfect antihero. He stands up for anyone who is too weak, and only looks at the rich when he’s planning to kill them. Does that sound like it’s a complicated tail of classism? No? That’s because it’s not. But hey, at least it isn’t on the wrong side of capitalism. So be ready for that message and moral to be forced down your throat. Had the idea that sharing money with the less fortunate been handled with more nuance I would’ve respected it more.
This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy Ben’s fight against the odds and journey across the country as he eludes the hunters coming after him. Rooting for Ben is easy, and Powell’s acting is fun enough that you forget the character is as deep as the kiddie pool. Early on, the movie finds a comfortable rhythm of scenes where characters talk out what’s happening, Ben meets a new character, tension rises, and then Ben has to do something on Tom Cruise’s bucket list. Rinse and repeat. Maybe along the way he spouts something along the lines of, “Fight the power.” The problem is that this script feels like an early draft in a lot of ways.
There are a lot of moments and little scenes that are meant to convey the emotions Ben feels. None of them are bad on their own, but they tend to pile up. Going back to that theme of haves versus have-nots, the movie is not sure it’s convinced you enough of how it feels. So it keeps having Ben crash out over his circumstances. I’m not saying I wouldn’t be losing my mind and lashing out if I was being hunted by the eugenics-promoting leader of the Viltrum empire and the mad titan, but slow down a bit. There’s also a lot of speculation near the end of the movie about what is real and what is not. Killian has to control the narrative, and he creates numerous videos for Ben and the show’s audience. Just real enough, they trick Ben into making foolish decisions, or the audience into hating Ben. There’s some pretty obvious commentary on how prevalent AI and fake news is in the modern western world.
Just like those outbursts from Ben, it seems like every other scene we get a new actor as a sidekick for him. Seriously, we go from Katy O’Brian, to William H. Macy, to Daniel Ezra, to Michael Cera, to Emilia Jones. Not to mention that Colman Domingo is basically emceeing the game show, and gets to make ludicrous jokes. Shoot, one third of the Please Don’t Destroy comedy group is here too, in Martin Herlihy. I don’t think a single one of those costars gets more than 10 minutes of screen time. Too much of good commentary or big names in small roles can be a bad thing. Weed those out, leave some stuff on the cutting room floor, and figure out which moment best serve the story.
Conversely it feels like Wright was told to pare himself back. This guy made his reputation off nonstop action and thrillers. Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Last Night in Soho, Hot Fuzz. The man knows how to get your heart pounding, and this story has an average heart rate of 115. Yes we get some bombastic moments including a hotel explosion, a booby-trapped mansion, and a climatic fight on a plane. Those moments alone are worth the price of admission. But Wright feels incredibly reined in here. I would argue it was studio interference, but with all the excess, it feels more like no one was comfortable enough to tell Wright this movie needed to be under 120 minutes.
Here’s what you can run this movie on: Powell. The man continues to prove his movie star quality with each role he takes, regardless of the project’s quality. The man could be playing a playboy quarterback doing a crappy Of Mice and Men accent, and it works. He’s so cool that in a movie with Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Ed Harris, and Jon Hamm, he’s the one with the most aura. So likable is Powell he makes you forget his co-star from Anyone But You may also be okay with eugenics. When Powell is on camera, you are down to go wherever he goes. He makes rooting for Ben easy, and honestly got me hopeful for a sequel with a little more refining. The man can carry a movie. He is a star from a bygone era. He might not be as talented of an actor as some of his peers, but the man knows how to make a fun movie.
Rating: Low Side of Liked It
The Running Man is currently playing in theaters
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