Director: Edgar Wright

Cast: Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Lee Pace, Michael Cera

Synopsis:

In a near-future society, The Running Man is the top-rated show on television—a deadly competition where contestants, known as Runners, must survive 30 days while being hunted by professional assassins, with every move broadcast to a bloodthirsty public and each day bringing a greater cash reward. Desperate to save his sick daughter, working-class Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is convinced by the show’s charming but ruthless producer, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), to enter the game as a last resort. But Ben’s defiance, instincts, and grit turn him into an unexpected fan favourite—and a threat to the entire system. As ratings skyrocket, so does the danger, and Ben must outwit not just the Hunters but a nation addicted to watching him fall.

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Look, I’m not saying that ever since Glen Powell caught the world’s eye in Top Gun: Maverick, the puppyish Texan has been deliberately and strategically positioned by Hollywood as a successor to Tom Cruise. But if someone had been – well, it’s hard to think of a more effective means of doing so than by having him star in The Running Man, a kinetic, stylish, obviously physically and technically demanding new adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 novel about a reality TV show with life or death stakes.

It feels like a vintage Cruise project from his Minority Report and Collateral era – an action film with a timeliness that underscores, though never overwhelms, its go-for-broke showmanship. (This version cleaves to the plot of King’s novel far more closely than the 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, who makes a cameo of sorts as the face on this future American nightmare-scape’s $100 bill.)

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