4K Blu-ray review: The Running Man

The Film

The Running Man is set in a world where America is a totalitarian fascist state controlled by megacorporations, and inequality runs rampant as ordinary people demean themselves in gladiatorial fights on live TV.

While the obvious joke is that Edgar Wright has made his second documentary, The Running Man is surprisingly disinterested in politics or actually saying anything of value. It wants to be a big and entertaining action film with a hint of subtext so as not to appear weightless, but Wright's adamant refusal to treat Stephen King's incendiary novel with the gravitas it deserves makes the whole thing frustratingly toothless.

The Running Man works best when it sticks to the source material. The first hour, where we meet our angry hero Ben (Glenn Powell), promises a far better movie than what follows.

Powell is fantastic as the lead. He embodies a weird mix of Arnold Schwarzenegger's superhero physique combined with the everyman energy of Bill Paxton, and somehow makes it work. He's nothing like the character from the book in terms of looks, yet Powell captures the raw intensity and frustration that made King's protagonist relatable.

Ben is coerced into taking part in The Running Man by Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) to pay the medical bills for his sick daughter. The concept is simple: For one month, three contestants have to outrun hunters and the viewing public without getting killed, and the last man standing gets 1 billion dollars. Anyone who snitches on the contestants is awarded cash prizes, which only go up if the tip leads to a kill.

The satire wasn't subtle in the 70s when King wrote his book, and it's uncomfortably prescient now. But Wright is frustratingly coy about the politics, and he keeps cutting away just when there's a point to be made. Imagine what Paul Verhoeven could have done with the material. His seminal works from the 80s and 90s, like Robocop and Starship Troopers, are just as vital today as they were then. By comparison, The Running Man feels downright timid in its desire not to offend anyone in power.

Once the game itself begins, Wright moves to far more comfortable territory. There's a lot of fun in watching Powell dip in and out of disguises as his temper consistently gets the best of him. An early highlight is his escape from a YMCA hostel, clothed only in a skimpy little towel, which provides both laughs and eye candy in equal measure. It fights against the dark and morbid tone of the material, but it also showcases how good Wright and Powell work together.

And therein lies the problem: Powell and Wright are a superb pairing; it's the material that doesn't fit their intentions. They're working on a big summer blockbuster when King's text searches for an acerbic filmmaker looking for a bridge to burn.

Wright is a talented director, and he's proven himself an expert at delivering exposition in a way that doesn't feel like a chore. But that requires the rest of the film to fall in line with his sense of pacing and comedy, neither of which fit The Running Man at all. So when Michael Cera, who shows up as an uncharacteristic freedom fighter, suddenly pulls out a slideshow projector to explain his tragic backstory, the whimsy grinds against the rest of the film. It's a collision of two drastically different sensibilities.

By the time the film reaches the final stretch, where King accelerates the anger to a dizzying degree, Wright pulls his punches even further. His third act plays everything so safe that we get the rare case where the adaptation has a worse ending than King's original book.

I can't help but wonder if it's a case of studio meddling or Wright losing his nerve. There's a clear moment around two-thirds into the film where the film shifts gears, and whether it's due to reshoots or a last-minute panic, but The Running Man suddenly loses the plot entirely. Instead of pulling off a final sprint, it limps to the finish line before sheepishly looking around to see if anyone is still cheering.

Video

Wright is a stellar visual filmmaker who understands blocking better than most of his peers. His films have a rhythm and choreography that always make my heart soar, and The Running Man, for the most part, is no exception.

From the opening sequences, where Wright introduces us to the not-too-distant future, The Running Man stuns with impeccable detail and clarity, and things only get better from there. One of my favorite sequences (the hostel escape) highlights everything that makes 4K such a treat for film fans. The blacks are inky and deep, fire flashes so bright it lights up the entire room, Powell's abs look like they might invade your living room, and every bit of squalor in the set design just pops.

There are a few caveats to this, though. The Running Man was shot on a digital format, which means some action sequences and especially low-light footage tend to have that ugly artificial smoothing effect. This isn't an issue with the 4K, but rather the originating format. It's just something that cinematographers haven't been able to fix yet, as digital video just doesn't have the same features as film stock, no matter how good it can look.

Audio

Audio, likewise, is nearly perfect, or so close to it that complaints feel tedious. Everything from the big fanfares to the roar of jet engines in the finale is tremendous, and the lively mix keeps every single channel popping throughout the runtime.

But this isn't a case of just overloading the viewer with information; there's a genuine care with how Wright and his sound designers keep us in the mindset that this world is always watching and never sleeping, and it adds to the hectic uncertainty that drives The Running Man.

One early montage, where Powell tries out for the show, is particularly great, with numerous bursts of roaring energy punctuated by quieter character beats, highlighting everything that makes this such a delicious sound mix. You get a lot just by buying a ticket, and then even more once you start to listen and notice just how much is going on in the background.

Extras

Wright's previous films have a wealth of extra materials, and he's made it clear in the past that he's a lover of physical media. So it's nice to see that The Running Man has decent enough extras, though they're still a little less than I'd have wanted to see from material this dense.

The clear highlight is the commentary track with Wright, Powell, and writer Michael Bacall, which breaks down changes to Stephen King's original novel, how Wright worked with the tone, and peppers in some delightfully dry humor from Powell, who seems to really enjoy this material. It isn't the most insightful commentary out there, and it doesn't have the kind of in-the-weeds knowledge that something like Wright's meticulous deconstruction of his work on Spaced did, but it is a good, solid all-rounder of a track.

The other extras are shorter featurettes, some insightful, but mostly just marketing reels you can find online. The stunt compilation is particularly fun, as is the work on the set design, hair, and make-up. I just wish there was more time given to these departments, as The Running Man is packed with fine detail and hidden gems for those willing to go hunting.

Overall

I've grown fonder of The Running Man in the eight months since I first saw it, and I actually had more fun revisiting the material on 4K than I did in theaters. My expectations of Wright are always enormous, and that's hardly fair, but it's also his fault for being so tremendously talented.

It isn't the best Stephen King adaptation to date, but it is a smart and often terrific update on a book written at one of King's darkest periods, and one that only saw an insipid version on-screen in the past. The fine technical presentation and decent extras make this a worthwhile addition to any collection, especially if you're a fan of sci-fi dystopias and quality action cinema.