By John Hiett
Could you survive 30 days against professional assassins and eagle-eyed civilians to win 1 billion dollars? This is the premise of “The Running Man,” set in a dystopian future where consumers are at the whim of mega corporations and their control over social media and laws.
Based on Stephen King’s 1982 novel, “The Running Man,” this film takes heavy inspiration from the source material and pays homage to the original movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger released back in 1987.
The film follows factory worker Ben Richards (Glen Powell), a caring, determined husband to his wife, Sheila (Jayme Lawson) and father to his infant daughter, Cathy. While living in the slums of Co-Op City, Cathy contracts the flu with Ben and Sheila not having any way to pay for the needed medicine. At first, Ben tries to audition for various challenge or trivia type game shows akin to Jeopardy, but he’s unsuccessful as his past history of insubordination hinders him from signing any contracts.
On top of this, the payout for the shows is slim, with not enough money being offered to legitimately pay for medicine that Cathy needs. This leaves Ben with only one option: compete in the world’s deadliest game show, The Running Man, to have a slim chance at winning $1 billion dollars.
Ben Richards signs up for the contest and meets face-to-face with the executive producer of the show, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin). Dan makes a deal with Ben, that he will send a cash advance to his wife and daughter in return for joining the contest. Dan is especially persuasive with Ben as he believes he will boost the show’s ratings to gain more profit and control over the city.
The rules of The Running Man are straightforward: the runner is given $1000 in cash and a 12-hour headstart, while also being required to send a 10 minute video of themselves every day. Ben proceeds to craft fake identities and make his way around the city, hoping to be undetected by the five professional hunters, all led by the masked leader, Evan McCone (Lee Pace).
While watching the film, I was thoroughly entertained with the consistent action, mesmerizing choreography and neat set pieces displayed throughout the film. The pacing was steady throughout as the film generally bounced back and forth action sequences with more reflective moments. The reflective moments are what I have an issue with in this film. “The Running Man” is a fun action movie with nothing more to say. Yet the film has moments where a tonal shift happens and it tries to treat itself as a serious commentary on society and the powers at play.
The ending simultaneously drags on, overstaying its welcome, while rushing to give Ben’s character a happy ending where he gets everything he wants. It goes from being a film about the underdog slowly gaining control from the tight-fisted corporate overlords, to him being the central driving force behind a big revolutionary movement.
The main highlights are the various civilians who decide to help Ben survive the contest by giving him supplies and hiding places during the thirty days. Despite the easy route of turning Ben for a huge sum of money, many people decide to help him in the face of losing everything and everyone they love. It’s this stance of selflessness and peaceful defiance that makes this film stand out. How we topple a corrupt system isn’t through violence or aggressive and extreme movements, but by a steady, loud voice and actions that showcase how a society should live.
All in all, if you have two hours to spare and are a fan of action movies, I recommend running to the theater to watch “The Running Man.” The light-hearted humor and intense fight scenes are refreshing to see after a month of October’s spooky, suspenseful movies.
“The Running Man” is currently showing in theaters.
John Hiett is a senior biology major. He is passionate about any and all indie video games and loves getting coffee since starting college.
Images courtesy of Kinberg Genre.
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