The Running Man (2025) review

Unemployed and unable to afford proper medication for his sickly daughter, Ben Richards (Glen Powell) decides to go to the only television station around to try to win cash on a game show, but he's trapped into participating in a deadly program called "The Running Man" - which is hosted by Bobby Thompson (Colman Domingo) and produced by Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) - in which the contestants must evade "hunters" for thirty days.  This is Wright's take on the 1982 book written by Stephen King (under the pseudonym Richard Bachman), which was turned into the 1987 feature with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and while it makes an effort to be 'flashy,' it's strangely stagnant for what's supposed to be a 'chase movie.'  Powell trying to act like an angry young-ish man doesn't work (he's too much of a nice guy), and the 'political commentary' - with Ben representing the 'poor and unwanted' and his assassins, led by McCone (Lee Pace), acting as stand-ins for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) - is pandering at best.  It feels odd that the "truth teller" in this dystopian scenario is a masked YouTuber, but these are strange times, indeed.