The Running Man (2025) Movie Review

Hello

everyone and welcome to the concession stand here on the KB radio network.

I am your host Kevin Reed and this is the review of the second attempt to

adopt Stephen King's

1982 novel The Running Man.

This film is directed by Edgar Wright.

It stars Glenn Powell,

Josh Borland,

Carmen Domingo,

and a slew of other actors.

And the film tells the story of a man that joins a game show in which contestants allowed to go anywhere in the world are pursued by hunters hired to kill them.

This is,

as mentioned,

the adaptation of the Stephen King novel and a remake,

reboot,

reimagining of the 1987 film that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.

This film was kind of high on my anticipation list and it didn't get that way until maybe a month before the release.

But

I was a little skeptical.

for a number of reasons going into this i am a fan of edgar wright i am a huge fan of scott pilgrim versus the world one of my favorite movies um just just from a technical standpoint in the story telling

standpoint i love scott pilgrim versus the world uh shauna the dead hot fuzz uh baby driver i i am a huge edgar wright fan and so i was

with all of that being said i was kind of skeptical about him directing this film did you know i've seen him direct action you know i've named a few movies i mean baby driver uh hot fuzz movies of that elk there's

action in it yeah there are comedies but there are action in it is crime in it you know so it's not super far-fetched but this this just didn't feel like

Edgar Wright property,

you know,

something that he would dive into.

But I was willing to give it a chance.

And then you have Glenn Powell,

who

I'm becoming a huge fan of.

I've always liked him in everything that he's in.

But as far as being a lead,

I'm becoming like a Glenn Powell guy,

you know,

love,

loved Chad Powers.

Chad Powers on Hulu is hilarious and I like his style.

You know,

he did a film last year,

I think Hitman,

where he played multiple characters and stuff like that.

And that seems to be his niche because he does that in this film too.

But he does it well.

He's a real good actor.

And I always wanted to see him in an action film.

And

I felt like this probably was a good choice for him going into it.

But can he lead?

a action film so it was a lot on the table there but i got excited leading up to it and right before the release of this film that excitement kind of left and that's without me looking at reviews or anything like that it

just left and normally when that happens it's not a good sign and sure enough this was a very disappointing film i'm sad to report that report

that this was this was bad this is i'm not gonna say it's one of the worst movies of the year but i don't know man it's definitely the most disappointing or one of the most disappointing films of the year it's

it's all over the place this movie has elements don't get me wrong there are pieces of this movie that are good you know the action in this film is really good

I really did like the action sequences that were put together by Edgar Wright and his team.

Really good.

You know,

I had fun with that.

Carmen Domingo is a national treasure.

He needs to be preserved and,

you know,

protected at all costs.

He is amazing in this film.

A standout.

Stole the movie.

The best performance in the movie.

He understood the assignment.

he's the only one who got it he knew what movie he was in and he played it to a t

every second he was on screen i was completely invested loved him in this movie that's pretty much it for me there's nothing else about this movie that made me want to uh scream from the heavens that this is the definitive adaptation of the running man i

would right now i don't even have to sit and think and meditate for weeks and days or whatever i can say with my whole chest

that the 1987 film is leaps and bounds better than this movie and that is the cheesiest 80s action movie of all time at least one of them top five cheesy action movies from the 80s but

i would sit back i was more invested in those characters every character in that film you know arnold schwarzenegger and uh and the supporting cast i can't think of them off the top of my head,

but I was into those characters.

here in this film i couldn't get behind anybody our hero uh glenn powell who for moments in the film i enjoy but at no moment in the film as far as the character did

i root for him at no point did i feel like okay this is the hero he's the guy i didn't feel that you know it was it was nothing for me to get behind him for.

Yeah,

he's

He's doing this for his family,

but it's like,

okay.

And that gets lost throughout the movie.

You really don't feel the weight of that.

They didn't take the time to set that up properly.

And it's weird to say that because this movie is over two hours.

It's about two hours and 15 minutes.

And they could have easily shaved off

20 minutes of this movie.

And it probably would have been a little better.

And

It's weird that this movie lasted this long and didn't really establish nothing.

It was nothing established here.

You know,

especially with our main character.

I can forgive everything else that I have my little,

you know,

problems with if the main character worked.

But it didn't work.

And it's not Glenn Powell's fault.

He actually did the best he could.

It's just his...

His...

character wasn't written right he was all over the place he was either he was the sympathetic hero or he was he was a a douchebag you know it is nothing about him that cheered protagonists you know throughout the entire film it

just didn't get there our our lead villain here uh josh brolin he was wasted josh brolin is a beast and we know he can play a villain

Thanos, hello

I mean

we know he can play a villain we know that he is an excellent actor wasted wasted everybody else is wasted i mean the whole cast and this is a stellar cast that they have put together for this film and they were wasted i

don't know man speaking of wasted this property this story was a wasted opportunity to tell a actual topical story you know a poignant story

i mean the whole concept of running man it is it is prime for this day and age you know to tell a story about watching tv and our addiction to technology uh you know and

trash tv and stuff like that and that that's that's right there it's right there in front of us and they wasted they wasted a perfect opportunity to tell an interesting story

Now,

the story didn't have to go like I thought it should have went,

but the story that I came up with in my head is better than the one that they put on screen.

And that's where I'm like,

man,

what are they doing?

Look,

there is a lot of action in here.

I'm not going to take that away.

There's a lot of action in this movie.

But

I have,

and me being an action movie nut,

I was raised on action movies.

I love them.

I don't care what kind of action movie it is.

I will watch it.

I don't care if it was direct-to-video,

VOD as it's called today,

or whatever.

Basement,

clearance bin.

I will get it because it's an action movie.

I just love action movies.

It's rare for me to sit down in an action movie and get bored with the action.

I was bored.

Even though the action sequences were,

like I said,

well put together.

they were nice you know some unique little little situations that uh ben richards have to go through but i was bored it was like action sequence a scene in the middle the

kind of catch your breath action sequence scene in the middle catch your breath action it was just too much it was too much this had more action than the 1987 film and that's saying a lot

it's saying a lot uh another thing and i hate to compare it to the 1987 film but it's based off of the same material so i have no other choice the 1987 film the arnold schwarzenegger film uh along

with him being well established and the supporting cast the villain the villains were well established killian uh you felt his villainy you know throughout the film

and so you knew he was the villain the uh hunters in that movie you know they were all kind of uh comic book villains the way they were set up in that particular film you know but they had a story they

had a backstory of of sorts you know that you can kind of get behind that not get behind like cheer for him but you can you can feel him you know you can believe their characters not in this movie not in

The villains were just goons.

They were just goons.

The hunters had no,

they had nothing.

There was no substance.

Zero substance.

Ah,

very,

I'm just,

I guess I'm hurt.

I'm hurt by this movie.

And I wasn't,

I wasn't expecting the world.

You know,

I wasn't expecting the next evolution into action movies.

I wasn't expecting that,

but.

I was at least expecting to be entertained.

And I was bored to death.

I was bored to death with the movie.

And the story went absolutely nowhere.

And the performances.

I thought,

man,

that was another thing.

You have this caliber of actors and actresses in this movie.

And they couldn't elevate it.

Yeah,

this is one of the most disappointing films of 2025.

Unfortunately,

which means the running man gets a lot of grade of a D plus.

Yeah.

Crash and burn,

man.

The only running that should happen involving this film is a raid from the theater,

man.

I am.

I am so hurt.

I'm disappointed,

man.

Like I said,

Edgar Wright,

Edgar Wright.

But I should have known.

I should have just listened to the.

voice in my head when they first announced that Edgar Wright was going to direct this film

I should have just followed my first mind no no not stupid me

I went over here to say oh no it'll still be good nah nah hurtful man hurtful but that's just one man's opinion I would love to know your thoughts on The Running Man did you check it out uh and which one did you like better

Did you like Arnold Schwarzenegger's version or this version of it?

Speaking of which,

it was a nice little cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

If you blink and you miss it,

you blink and you miss it.

That's the only thing they gave it the D plus,

by the way,

or at least one of the things they gave it a D plus.

Otherwise,

it would have been an F.

But did you catch that?

Did you catch the movie?

I would like to know your thoughts.

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Network. Everybody,

thank you for joining me for this review.

of the Running Man.

I want you all to know that I love you.

Continue to love everyone.

And until we speak again,

you all be blessed.

The Running Man (2025) Movie Review

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