🎙️🔥 In this episode, John tears into Edgar Wright’s 2025 take on The Running Man, a high-octane sci-fi action reimagining of Stephen King’s Richard Bachman novel. Set in a near-future surveillance state where a brutal nationwide “game” turns human survival into mass entertainment, the film follows Ben Richards (Glen Powell) — a wronged man forced into the deadly spectacle — as he fights hunters, dodges propaganda, and becomes a symbol of resistance.
John breaks down how Wright rebuilds the story for a modern audience, incorporating sharper satire on reality TV and media manipulation, kinetic action sequences that push the original’s set-piece ideas into a full-throttle chase movie, and a tonal shift that leans into urgency without losing its dark humor. He also highlights the cast — from Powell’s lean physicality to the layered support players — and why Edgar Wright’s direction and Michael Bacall’s script aim to be much closer to King’s novel than the 1987 Schwarzenegger picture.
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