I almost didn't watch this movie.
A film reviewer I deeply respect had caught an early screening and delivered a verdict that stuck with me: he loved the first half, but said it completely fell apart in the second. That kind of review is the worst. It's not "this movie is bad, skip it." It's "this movie will hook you, then disappoint you." I wasn't sure I wanted to sign up for that emotional rollercoaster.
So when The Running Man dropped on streaming, I hesitated. But the overall reception told a different story. IMDB was sitting at a respectable 6.6. Rotten Tomatoes had it at 64-66%, not spectacular, but solidly "Fresh." Audiences seemed to be enjoying it. So I took the plunge.
And you know what? I thought it was pretty great.
This isn't the campy 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger version. Edgar Wright went back to Stephen King's original 1982 novel (written under his Richard Bachman pseudonym), and the result is something darker, nastier, and far more relevant to our current moment. Here's the thing about King's novel: it was set in the year 2025. Let that sink in. King wrote this 43 years ago, imagining what our present might look like, and Wright had the perfect opportunity to hold up a mirror to our reality.
Glen Powell proves once again why he's one of the most charismatic actors working today. As Ben Richards, he's not playing an action hero. He's playing a desperate man trying to survive a system designed to crush him. It's a different energy than Schwarzenegger's quip-machine, and it works. The movie moves. It grabs you and doesn't let go.
What really got under my skin was how the film leans into themes of AI manipulation and deepfakes. It's chilling how relevant it feels. We're living in an era where you genuinely can't trust what you see. Deepfakes are getting better. AI-generated content is everywhere. Governments and corporations have unprecedented power to shape narratives. The Running Man doesn't pretend to have answers, but it forces you to think about what happens when you can't trust anything you're shown. That's not just sci-fi anymore. That's Tuesday.
Wright also packed this film with callbacks to Stephen King's larger universe. The Derry connection alone is worth mentioning. Yes, that Derry. The fictional town where Pennywise terrorized the Losers' Club in IT. This isn't Wright being cute with crossover potential; the Derry sequence appears in King's original novel, written years before IT was even published. Still, seeing it on screen feels like a meaningful connection to King's interconnected universe. There are plenty of other Easter eggs scattered throughout for sharp-eyed viewers and King fans.
Now, about that second half. I can see where the reviewer I mentioned was coming from. The tonal shift in the final act is jarring. But for me, it worked. The chaos of the ending felt intentional, a reflection of how quickly things spiral when systems of control start to collapse. Your mileage may vary.
The Running Man (2025) isn't a perfect film. It's messy, it's loud, and it might try to say too many things at once. But in an era where so many blockbusters feel focus-grouped into blandness, I'll take a swing-for-the-fences adaptation that actually has something to say about the world we're living in.
Was the reviewer I respect wrong about the second half? Maybe we just disagree. Art is subjective. But I'm glad I didn't let that one opinion keep me from a movie I genuinely enjoyed.
Sometimes the best recommendation is: just watch it and decide for yourself.
Four stars. Not quite top 10 material, but a solid, thought-provoking ride that's worth your time.