The Running Man at Odeon West End …

Last night went to see The Running Man at the Odeon West End in London’s glitzy Leicester Square, with Darce.

Hunky Glen Powell leads as Ben Richards, an everyman with anger issues, in a dystopian near-future. His child is sick. He’s lost his job. He needs money fast. 

The Running Man is the country’s deadliest TV show — contestants (“Runners”) must survive 30 days while being hunted by professional assassins (“Hunters”) and the public alike. Ben enters the game to win money to help his daughter, but as he survives day by day, he becomes a fan favourite and a real threat to the system.  

This version is much closer to the Stephen King novel than the cheesy 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Here the script leans into the bleak social commentary, the desperate family stakes, and the horrifying spectacle of a manhunt televised for profit.  

The evil Network (Netflix?) baddy is played by Josh Brolin (Dan Killian), slimy MC is Colman Domingo(Bobby Thompson), hard-luck wife Jayme Lawson (Sheila), main Hunter Lee Pace, and jaded cynic William H. Macy. The screenplay is by Edgar Wright and Michael Bacall

Wright is also the director. Which he does with flare.

If you liked Shaun of the Dead, Squid Game, or Channel 4’s Hunted, you’ll probably love this: it’s darkly satirical, tense, and disturbing in just the right way — a reality-TV nightmare, but with Edgar Wright’s eye for pacing and spectacle.

Oh, and the Home Alone meets Straw Dogs scene is to die for. 

#TheRunningMan #EdgarWright #StephenKing #LondonCinema