Dir: Edgar Wright, 2025, UK/US, 133 mins
Cast: Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo
Review by Carol Allen
An earlier film of The Running Man, loosely based on Stephen King’s story was made in 1987 starring Arnold Schwarzeneggar but for his version Wright has stuck closely to King’s original book. He’s a fan of the writer and they are now friends, so of course he has. And while the result has plenty of action, it’s also strong on character.
The title refers to a brutal tv game show in near future America (2025 in King’s original story) which is broadcast on the government-controlled TV network. Contestants are on the run, being hunted by professional killers. If they survive for 30 days, the prize is a billion dollars. But the dice are loaded against them. Meanwhile every move is being broadcast to a bloodthirsty public and a studio audience howling like werewolves, encouraged by a glitzy game show host (Colman Domingo). It all makes Traitors seem like a jolly gathering of good friends.
Our hero is Ben (Glen Powell), a hardworking construction worker, who has been banned from working for protesting about unsafe work practices. And as the corporation, which is also the government, control everything – hey, maybe this isn’t that far from where real life 2025 America is heading after all? – he has nowhere to turn.
A devoted family man, he and his wife Sheila (Jayme Lawson), who earns peanuts as a hostess in a club, desperately need money for medicine for their sick baby and the Running Man game is his only hope.
Powell is a very likeable and pleasant looking actor, who engages our sympathy from the start. Not so his main antagonist Josh Brolin as the ruthless producer of the show, who is crooked as a corkscrew and a bit of a Mephistophelian character, as he tries to tempt Ben into more and more excesses, as the going gets tougher and tougher. The game itself is fixed – the audience is being wound up through phony video footage of Ben bad mouthing them and everything they hold dear – and it looks like that billion dollar prize is an out of reach myth.
The film has echoes of course of the Hunger Games franchise with its theme of the underclass being exploited for mass entertainment and Brolin’s character in particular reminds us of previous satires on American tv such as Sydney Lumet’s Network or James L. Brooks Broadcast News. It is though primarily an action movie and Wright keeps the pace and the action going full throttle, while Powell keeps us rooting for Ben right to the end.
AVAILABLE TO BUY ON DIGITAL JANUARY 13 & TO RENT ON JANUARY 27, 2026.
ON 4K UHD STEELBOOK, 4K UHD, BLU-RAY AND DVD MARCH 2, 2026
Bonus Content (4K UHD):
Over two and a half hours of extras plus filmmaker commentary take you inside Edgar Wright’s turbo-charged thrill ride THE RUNNING MAN.
- Commentary By Writer/Director Edgar Wright, Actor Glen Powell, And Writer Michael Bacall
- Featurettes:
- The Hunt Begins: Jump into the chase with Glen Powell, Edgar Wright, and the team as they rebuild Stephen King’s classic into a big, bold, break-the-system thrill ride for today.
- The Hunters And The Hunted: Meet the cast and the unforgettable characters that power this anything-goes game show of survival, strategy, and spectacle.
- Welcome To The Running Man: Designing The World: A look at how the team crafted the movie’s retro-futuristic style—from gritty street corners to the over-the-top Free-Vee studio set pieces.
- Surviving The Game: Shooting The Running Man: Step onto the set for a closer look at the stunts, fights, and shoot days that kept the energy high and the cast moving.
- The Running Man Commercials: In-world commercials for the show you definitely shouldn’t audition for—but can’t stop watching.
- Let Them Run
- Hey You! Tough Guy!
- Watermelons
- Fate And Destiny
- Quadcopter
- The Running Man Show: Dive deeper into the show with its hardest hits, signature opening titles, and the official rules every contestant has to face.
- Hardest Hits
- Opening Titles
- Rules Of The Run
- The Runners – Self Tapes: Raw, unfiltered self-tape submissions from the show’s desperate, overconfident, and occasionally unlucky contestants.
- Ben Richards
- Jenni Laughlin
- Tim Jansky
- Hopeless Dude
- Negative Dude
- Final Dude
- Speed The Wheel: A satirical in-world game show where running for your life is just another studio challenge.
- The Americanos: Meet America’s richest, boldest, most chaotic family in their hit reality series—glossy, ruthless, and always watching.
- Title Sequence
- Episode
- Promo 1
- Promo 2
- Promo 3
- Promo 4
- The Apostle: Clips from the in-world series that expands the TV universe of The Running Man.
- The Apostle 1
- The Apostle 2
- Stunts Compilation: A full-throttle look at the hits, falls, wire work, wipeouts, and perfectly timed chaos that fuel the film’s biggest moments.
- Hair, MakeUp And Costume Test: Watch the cast get locked into their final looks before stepping into the arena.
- Deleted And Extended Scenes: Additional moments cut from the final film.
- Trailers & Digital Spots: A curated lineup of the campaign’s boldest cuts and hardest-hitting promos.
The Blu-ray release of The Running Man will have only the following bonus content available:
- The Hunters And The Hunted
- Welcome To The Running Man: Designing The World
- Surviving The Game: Shooting The Running Man
Physical Disc Technical Info:
- 4K UHD Disc:
- Languages: English, French – Parisian Dolby Atmos / French – Canadian, Japanese, Spanish – Latin American 5.1 Surround Dolby Digital / Audio Descriptive Track: English 5.1 Surround Dolby Digital
- Subtitles: English, English SDH†, Chinese – Cantonese, Chinese – Mandarin – Traditional, Danish, Finnish, French – Canadian, French – Parisian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Spanish – Latin American, Swedish and Thai
- Blu-ray Disc:
- Languages: English Dolby Atmos / French – Canadian, French –Parisian, German, Japanese, Spanish – Latin American 5.1 Surround Dolby Digital / Audio Descriptive Track: English 5.1 Surround Dolby Digital
- Subtitles: English, English SDH†, Chinese – Cantonese, Chinese – Mandarin – Traditional, Danish, Finnish, French – Canadian, French – Parisian, German, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Spanish – Latin American, Swedish, Thai and Turkish
- DVD Disc:
- Languages: English, Czech, Spanish – Castilian 5.1 Surround Dolby Digital
- Subtitles: English, English SDH†, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Slovakian, Spanish – Castilian and Swedish
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