Film Review

First impressions of The Running Man (2025)

Sci-fi like this always has the potential to provoke meaningful reflection about where we are now and where we are headed. Does The Running Man achieve that?

Jeffrey Overstreet

03 Jul 2026 • 8 min read

Filed under: Film Review • On Movies & Media • The Running Man • Edgar Wright

Ben Richards (Glen Powell, center) starts out fighting for the funds to save his family, and ends up fighting for his life in The Running Man. [Image: The Paramount Pictures trailer.]

In this, the second feature-film adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 novel, Edgar Wright, director of hyperkinetic and hyperstylish action comedies, takes a swing at improving on Paul Michael Glaser’s 1987 version. How does he do?

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