THE RUNNING MAN (2025) – Review

“What if The Hunger Games, Cyberpunk, and Fox News had a baby? (And that baby had anger issues.)”

Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers shall we?

⚠️ Content Warning (Read Before Continuing)

Okay, y’all — before we dive into The Running Man, let me be upfront:
this movie deals with a LOT of heavy stuff.
Like… “maybe don’t watch this if you had a bad day” levels of heavy.

Here’s what you need to know:

Child illness / medical distress
A huge part of the story is Ben’s infant daughter being seriously sick.
It’s emotional, stressful, and very much a plot driver.

Poverty, desperation, and medical system failure
The movie pulls zero punches about how the poor are treated like trash and health care is basically a Hunger Games mini-boss.
If real-life economic stress gets to you, this might sting.

Live-television violence
Characters are hunted and killed for entertainment.
Yes, it’s fictional and stylized…
but it still might be upsetting for some.

Propaganda, media manipulation, and psychological abuse
The show literally rewrites footage to smear people, twist narratives, and ruin lives.
If you’re sensitive to themes of gaslighting or systemic corruption, keep that in mind.

Blood, stabbing, explosions, and action violence
Nothing extreme by modern standards, but still present.

Terrorism false-flag imagery
The climax involves a plane and a building, and the broadcasting network faking footage of an “attack.”
Some viewers might find this uncomfortable or too real.


Basically: if you’re sensitive to child endangerment, dystopian oppression, or anything involving corrupt systems crushing people, go in prepared.

It’s a GREAT movie — but not a lighthearted weekend watch.


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🎥 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

In this dystopian future where everything feels one baby step away from Cyberpunk 2077 (minus the Keanu Reeves cameo), society is glued to The Running Man — a televised “game” where poor contestants are hunted for 30 days for sport. Survive? You win a billion dollars. Lose? Congrats, you’re dead on live TV and the audience will still clap.

Our main character Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is a broke, black-listed dad with a sick baby. Desperate to save his family, he auditions for a job… only to be shoved straight into the Running Man death game because the producer thinks he has “the right face for TV.”

Thanks. I also have the right face for panic attacks, but sure.

Richards gets thrown into the game with a pack of colorful contestants, a swarm of Hunters led by the masked Evan McCone (Lee Pace), and a population that fully believes whatever the network tells them — even when the network is clearly using Photoshop on steroids.

That’s our world. That’s our vibe. That’s America with neon lighting.

🎬 Director Spotlight: Edgar Wright Takes the Wheel

(And yes, this predates The Hunger Games vibe — don’t worry, I’ll get to that.)

The Running Man (2025) is directed by Edgar Wright, a filmmaker you probably already know even if you don’t realize you know him.
He’s the guy behind:

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Hot Fuzz (2007)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Baby Driver (2017)

Last Night in Soho (2021)


Wright is famous for stylish editing, kinetic action, and dark humor wrapped in social commentary — which makes him weirdly perfect for adapting one of Stephen King’s most cynical dystopian stories.

And yes… if the premise of The Running Man sounds suspiciously like The Hunger Games, that’s because the original 1982 book by Stephen King (written under the name Richard Bachman) actually predates Suzanne Collins’ books by decades.

So the “people forced into a televised death-sport while a corrupt government profits from it” thing?
King did it first.
The Hunger Games is the grandchild of this story, not the other way around.

Edgar Wright clearly leaned into that legacy — blending dystopian misery, satire, and action in a way that feels familiar but intentionally old-school.
It’s retrofuturism meets modern commentary, and it works.



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🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Character Rundown

Ben Richards (Glen Powell) – Angry. SO angry. Maybe the angriest protagonist I’ve seen this year. During his psychological exam the therapist literally says, “You are the angriest man to ever audition.” And this man forces a smile and goes, “Well that really pisses me off.” Iconic.

Sheila (Jayme Lawson) – His wife, fighting poverty, medical bills, and the fact she married the world’s most explosive man.

Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) – The producer of The Running Man. Smooth, manipulative, corporate evil. The kind of guy who fires people on Christmas Eve.

Bobby T (Colman Domingo) – The flamboyant host who treats child murder like a halftime show. But my God, he’s entertaining.

Evan McCone (Lee Pace) – The masked Hunter. Looks like he wandered in from a G.I. Joe reboot. Ski mask, tactical armor, “fate” engraved on his gun. Honestly? My favorite character. Villains shouldn’t be this cool.

The Resistance People – A group of underground activists who make the Hunger Games rebels look subtle.

Amelia Williams (Emilia Jones) – A rich girl with a self-driving car and zero awareness of the world. But she tries.


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⏳ Pacing / Episode Flow

Shockingly smooth. The movie never drags — even when it gets a little silly.
Act 1: desperation
Act 2: disguises, chases, sewer escapes
Act 3: plane chaos + the final “WHAT??” twist

It moves like a thriller, not an action movie. And weirdly, that works.


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⭐ Pros

• Cyberpunk-lite energy
The “rich vs poor” themes hit way too close to reality, which makes this movie even more effective. Healthcare is hell, media is propaganda, rich people thrive while the rest suffer — yeah, sounds familiar.

• The Hunters are awesome
Especially McCone. The mask, the voice, the presence — he is the moment.

• Glen Powell as ‘Angriest Man Alive’
This is his best role. He’s unhinged, desperate, scary, and sympathetic all at once.

• Fun disguises
Richards cosplaying his way through the movie (businessman, priest, sick old man) is hilarious.

• The satire actually lands
The way the network alters footage? Disturbingly believable in 2025.

• Coleman Domingo steals the show
Every scene he’s in is weirdly electric.


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❌ Cons

• The ending is stupid.
Like… “gravity, physics, and logic all quit the film industry” stupid.

• How does Richards have money??
He is broke. BROKE. But somehow pays for motels, bribes people, buys things…
Sir, where is this mysterious wallet coming from?

• Some twists feel forced
Especially the “RISE UP, REVOLUTION!!” third act energy.

• The villains should’ve been even more unhinged
It’s The Running Man — go wild.


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💭 Final Thoughts

I’m giving it 9 out of 10, because the movie slaps — even when it’s stupid as hell.

It’s stylish, angry, surprisingly emotional, and painfully relevant. The messaging hits: media manipulation, rigged systems, desperation, corporate fearmongering. It’s The Hunger Games + Black Mirror + Robocop if those movies had insomnia and drank five Monster Energy drinks.

The only real problem is the ending, which feels like the director wrote himself into a corner and said,
“Eh. Screw it. Explosion.”

But honestly? I still had a blast.


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⭐ Rating: 9/10


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⚠️ Spoiler Warning

From here on, everything is spoilers. Stop reading unless you wanna know how many disguises this man wears and why grenades suddenly become soccer balls.


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💥 Spoilers

Richards joins The Running Man out of desperation — his baby is dying, and the healthcare system basically told him “get richer or die trying.” He gets $5,000 upfront if he agrees to the show and a chance at a billion dollars if he survives 30 days.

He gets eleven hours of head start while McCone and his Hunters prepare. The Hunters look like Cyberpunk mercenaries with budget cuts, but they’re still terrifying.

Richards then disguises himself several times:

businessman with a mustache

blind priest

sick homeless man

injured old coot with a cane


And yet NO ONE questions a six-foot-tall man with rage in his eyes limping around town. Comedy.

He hides at a farmhouse with a kid and his brother. We get resistance backstory. We also get the moment where the mother says she was afraid he was in Derry, and I nearly fell out of my chair. Stephen King cannot escape this town. Put Salem’s Lot in Derry at this point. Put Jurassic Park in Derry. Put Star Wars in Derry. Why not.

Anyway — the network begins altering every video he sends, turning his emotional pleas into “YES I LOVE MURDER YIPPEE!!” Like an AI Snapchat filter on steroids.

The motel sequence gives us one of the funniest/most badass moments:
Richards pulls out a grenade. McCone kicks it back like a soccer ball. Iconic.

Richards eventually meets Amelia, makes her question her privilege, and gets her to help. At a protest barricade, fans chant “RICHARDS LIVES!” which feels very Hunger Games but shiny.

He hijacks a plane, confronts McCone, and we learn McCone took the deal years ago — the same deal Richards refuses. Fate, scars, trauma, corruption — Lee Pace delivers the creepiest calm monologue ever.

Then Richards pulls the parachute, slams McCone into the door, stabs him, and kills him.

But THEN the ending derails the train.

The network fakes footage of Richards threatening to crash the plane into a building. The military blows it up. The plane FULLY explodes. Big boom. No survivors… right?

HA. WRONG.

FREEDOM FIGHTER YOUTUBER pops up with a presentation like he’s in a Netflix true crime doc:

“Did Richards really die?”

He shows grainy frames of debris like he’s analyzing Bigfoot footage. He decides Richards is alive because the plot says so.

Cut to the wife and baby alive. A hooded figure gives them socks. She recognizes him.

Cut to the TV studio: the crowd is rioting, throwing molotovs, chanting “RICHARDS LIVES!”
Killian tries to calm the crowd, gets a molotov to the face (deserved).

Then… the masked man walks up, pulls his mask down…
It’s Richards.

He raises the gun.
Counts down.

Movie ends.

I screamed “WHAT?!” in the theater.