The Running Man might stumble out of the gate, but once it hits its stride, it’s a blast.
Edgar Wright’s latest flick kicks off like it has something to prove – mostly by talking at you. A lot.
The first stretch of the movie is packed with expository dialogue, as if the filmmakers were worried we wouldn’t understand how a dystopian world works.
Honestly, at this point, we’ve had so many of these movies thrown at us that we could practically give a TED Talk on corrupt governments and televised violence.
So wading through all that setup definitely made it a little hard to settle into the story.
But once the movie finally stops explaining itself and starts being itself, it becomes a whole different experience.
The world suddenly feels more lived-in, the pacing picks up, and the whole thing transforms into a really fun ride.
It took me a minute to buy into the universe, but once I did, I was fully along for the chaos.
A big part of that ride is Glen Powell, who continues to radiate “guy next door” charm even when he’s trying very hard not to.
Hollywood clearly loves casting him as the tough, emotionally armoured type, but here you can see him struggling just a little to make that edge feel natural.
He’s still great to watch – he just can’t fully hide that warm, “nice guy” energy no matter how hard he tries.
On the flip side, Josh Brolin fits into the villain role like he was born for it.
He’s fantastic here – a slimy exec we all love to hate. Here, he is evil and intense, but not in a way that feels like he’s recycling his purple past (Thanos).
The movie as a whole isn’t subtle about the parallels it’s drawing to society today, but the best way to enjoy it is simply not to overthink it.
The less seriously you take it, the more it just works. By the end, I found myself having a genuinely good time.
