REVIEW:
Here’s the thing about the new Edgar Wright movie The Running Man… it’s not what it should have been. Wright is an absolutely terrific filmmaker who has a unique touch and style and sense of humor. And none of that is in this movie. This is the guy who demonstrated the most brilliant timing and comedic sensibility with Hot Fuzz. He showed how creative and interesting he could be with Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. And he showed how perfectly he could make an action movie with Baby Driver. So, having demonstrated that he could do just about anything related to comedy or action, you would think this movie would be right up his alley. And yet, somehow, it really isn’t.
The movie is bleak and ugly, and that’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with a dystopian future kind of setting. And there doesn’t have to be comedy to be a good film. But where’s the action? We are given a nearly two and a half hour movie and there are only about three quick action scenes. This should have been a wall to wall action movie about one guy trying to survive a bunch of hitmen and holding nothing back to kill one after the next. It wasn’t. Our protagonist, played by Glenn Powell, signs up to be on this show to help get money for his sick daughter. The opening scenes, that show all this, are actually the best scenes in the movie. Powell is great as the hot head, ready to explode at any second. But once the actual games start, the fun stops.
There are so many ways that this movie could have been done better. They could have given us some creative settings and places where we’ve never seen action before. Just think of what John Woo did with a restaurant with the opening scene of Hard Boiled, or what Die Hard 2 did with an airport. But this movie has no interest in getting creative. Another way this movie could have excelled would have been to give the hunters (there’s a group of about five hunters coming after Powell,) distinctions. If they let us know each of the names of these guys, and maybe a tiny bit about each one, then Powell could have been keeping a list and crossing them off one by one as he killed each one, Kill Bill style. That would have also helped the audience keep track and feel like they were a part of this thing.
Instead, what we get are a number of moments where the hunters show up and don’t actually kill Powell, even though they are right there, and clearly could kill him if they wanted to. Now, we learn later that Powell is “the final dude,” and so out of three contestants on the show, he needs to die last, which is why the hunters can’t kill him until the end. We also learn it’s all about the ratings, and so if it’s not a cool way for him to die (like if they shot him while he was scaling the side of a building wearing nothing but a towel,) then it would be a waste of a kill. And all of this explains why they don’t kill him when clearly they could. But the problem is that these explanations come only after the audience has already been frustrated by the lack of kills. What we see, again and again, are these hitmen coming after him and shooting at him, with no intention of actually hitting him. It feels ridiculous, until we learn the reason why they are missing.
The biggest problem with the Running Man is that it’s not fun. There’s no personality or flair. The 1980s Arnold Schwartznegger version was about a thousand times better. That movie was campy and corny as hell, with its hunters being more like professional wrestlers, complete with over the top costumes and personas, but at least it gave us something different. At least it was having fun. This new version is just dull. And that’ the last thing you want from an action movie and the last thing you’d expect from an Edgar Wright movie. Between this movie and the one he made before it, Last Night in Soho, Wright is on a downwards trajectory. He needs to find something to make that will get him back on his feet and restore his status, giving him the credibility he used to have. The four focus areas should be comedy, action, fun, and style. Unfortunately, his Running Man movie has very little of these things.