The Running Man | Film Review

 

Desperate to help his sick daughter, Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is convinced to compete in a deadly gameshow.

I was really annoyed to miss this one in the cinema because I was looking forward to it. Based on the promotional interviews, it seemed like it would be a fun popcorn movie, and even though the reviews weren’t great I was open-minded about it.

And thankfully I really liked it!

It was really quick to get into the action. We meet Ben, we meet his family, we get to know a little bit about him, but before we really get into anything he’s in the competition fighting for his life and we’re right alongside him. It gets your adrenaline going from really early on and doesn’t let up.

The downside of this is that the concept of the competition wasn’t explained as well as it could have been. You get the gist of things after a while, but it would have been would have been great to know more earlier on.

That being said, it doesn’t matter too much because you’re invested in Ben and his journey. We don’t get to know any other characters as well as him, and we don’t even know him that well, but anything lacking in character development is made up with all the action.

Powell is great in action roles – his fighting is the more believable part of the film. We’ve been given a character in Ben that we can really root for, which makes the film a lot of fun.

The supporting cast are so great. They don’t get much time but they make the most of it. Michael Cera was a particular highlight. Some of the performances were a bit over the top, but that really suited the tone of the film.

That being said, something that needed a lot more development was the family. Ben repeatedly tells us how he feels about his family but this is never shown. The chemistry was okay but it wasn’t good enough to show us exactly what Ben was fighting so hard for.

And the ending was incredibly satisfying, enough to push the film up a star – I can’t say in enough detail how much fun this film is!

Overall I really liked this film – it’s a lot better than you’d think, and a great one to watch with other people. I’d definitely recommend it!

7.5/10