Review: The Running Man
Edgar Wright who brought us Baby Driver and Hot Fuzz brings a much more serious film with The Running Man.
Edgar Wright is one of the most successful directors working today.
The seeds he planted in Shaun of the Dead on how to combine music with action scenes grew and are now present in almost every film you will see, and films like Baby Driver and Scott Pilgrim remain at the top of the lists of the best and most influential films for generations of movie lovers.
Wright’s sharp British humor and his unique direction of action and fast-paced sequences continued to follow him throughout his career, such as his insistence on these principles at Marvel when he was allowed to develop the first Ant Man (a project that collapsed due to creative disagreements between the studio and Wright) and even when he decided to make the excellent horror film Last Night in Soho.
It is important to highlight Wright’s illustrious past to tell you that his new film, The Running Man, is unlike anything he has done before, and honestly I would not have recognized it as a Wright film if his name had not appeared at the start.
This is disappointing, especially for someone addicted to his style, but from this disappointment I can clearly say it is an excellent, fun film that grabs you from start to finish, even if it does not explode.
Richard versus the world of reality shows
I don’t think I will surprise anyone by saying that the source material for the film, based almost 1-to-1 on a book by Stephen King with the same name, is excellent.
Wright has already perfectly adapted Scott Pilgrim (with precise recreation of panels from the manga) so there is no complaint about the plot it is excellent.
Ben Richards is a father in a dystopian future where giant corporations control the world and raise prices to maintain stark class differences.
Richards is fired from his job after trying to save his team members, and now faces his young daughter’s health issues which force his wife to work as a stripper for extra hours.
To obtain the needed money, Richards decides to compete in one of the reality programs of The Network the broadcasting corporation controlling the media and enters the most dangerous and watched show, The Running Man, where Richards must survive a month while an entire army led by five skilled hunters tries to eliminate him in every way for the rating.
The film showing the behind the scenes of the reality world and how a character is built from a real person by changing things he did and said.
This creates an almost ultimate hero for today’s world, and I must admit that even if I did not connect with Richards at first, I quickly became on edge hoping he would survive.
The only Wright signature that appears here, and appears heavily, is the pace of the plot which, as always, never stops from the beginning.
The problem is that he runs withour reaching a crazy climax.
There are standout moments, for example, the supporting character Emilia Jones sends us on a twenty minute excellent saga, but I never felt the film had a climax like the chase in Baby Driver.
The film is so focused on the journey itself, executed excellently, and neglects to exaggerate the peaks so that they feel, well, like peaks.
In short, someone behind me said this is a film that could also be watched on TV with no difference, and while I think good content works on most screens, I completely understand what he meant.
The lack of climaxes or insane action scenes is disappointing not only because it does not suit Wright, but also because it does not fit the epic film he created here.
The entire cast gave their all to deliver excellent dialogue scenes, only for the action not to feel fully executed.
It is important to note that this is the first time Wright has worked with Paramount, which may be connected somehow to the film’s different tone.
Bottom Line
Edgar Wright disconnects from all his usual hallmarks, but still gives us one of the most fun films of the year.
Those expecting the usual Wright elements will not find them here but will find a film with excellent pacing and a tremendous story that keeps building from start to finish even if it never reaches explosive climaxes.