An adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 book, “The Running Man,” came into theaters nationwide and in international markets on Nov. 14.
The movie opens with main character Ben Richards, played by Glen Powell, coming home in a (somewhat) futuristic city where a mega corporation known as “The Network,” controls every aspect of life, profiting from keeping people in poverty. Fired from multiple jobs, he is running out of options. Desperate for money to save his sick daughter, his only option is to compete in a dangerous game show, called The Running Man. This game show, which Richards quickly finds out is rigged so contestants can’t win, centers around three people being placed into the real world and hunted by professional assassins for 30 days.
This wasn’t the first attempt to recreate this book as a movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger starred as Ben Richards in a 1987 version. That movie was criticized as being too different from the original book for several reasons. For example, in the 1987 version, the competition took place in a set arena, while it takes place in the real world on the streets in the current adaptation. One of the goals of the new version was to make it closer to the original book, fixing several differences between the old version and the book.
Fans of the book were not pleased with the 1987 version, and wanted it to be closer to the original book. The director of the 2025 adaptation, Edgar Wright, agreed. In an interview with Screen Rant, a news site about movies, he was asked about the 1987 version and said, “They only really use part of the game show setup. So, being a fan of Stephen King and also when I was starting to become a filmmaker, I was aware that there was a whole other movie in that book to be adapted.”
As for Edgar Wright’s 2025 version, there were mixed reactions from movie fans, particularly when it comes to the dialogue and lines between characters. Personally, I did not enjoy the movie that much. In my opinion, the constant action scenes and suspense is cool, but the acting and comedy bring the overall quality of the movie down. Students agree. “This was probably one of the worst movies I have seen this year, and I watch a lot of movies,” senior Bobby Ferris said.
Another part of the movie that is criticized is the ending. For a lot of fans, the ending felt rushed and poorly scripted. “I was genuinely so confused with the ending, it did not make sense to me at all and I was glad when it ended,” senior Dennis Li said.
Even though there were a lot of bad parts of the movie, overall I enjoyed the experience because it was so full of action. I rate it a 5/10: Unless you can get it for free on streaming services soon, I would not recommend spending your money on seeing it in theaters.
