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After an underwhelming theatrical run and mixed reviews, Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 novel The Running Man hits streaming this week on Paramount+, where it’s likely to find a more forgiving audience.
The satirical sci-fi action flick stars Glen Powell (Twisters) as Ben Richards, a struggling laborer who enters a deadly TV game show called The Running Man to help his wife and daughter out of poverty, only to discover that winning the promised billion dollars might be impossible. King himself was happy with the movie, but critics and audience seemed to be underwhelmed by it, either noting that it didn’t match Wright’s former directorial greatness or that Powell didn’t quite have the star power to guide it into the stratosphere.
The good news is that streaming is perfect for satires, dystopian sci-fi, and action these days, so The Running Man should pick up interest from those who weren’t excited enough about the film to see it in theaters. The Leonardo DiCaprio-led satire Don’t Look Up did exceptionally well on streaming, and satirical black comedy The Ugly Stepsister has found a real cult fan base on Shudder. Even flop superhero movie Madame Web immediately struck the Netflix top ten after bombing at the box office, but The Running Man is – to put it mildly – much, much better than Madame Web.
The Running Man was always less likely to sell tickets than a word-of-mouth horror movie or the sight of Superman beating Lex Luthor, but its themes should stream well. The movie is a critical take on media exploitation under an authoritarian system, which is pretty hard to market to general audiences who aren’t looking outside four-quadrant entertainment on the weekend, but its story still stings in today’s media landscape, where divisiveness is amplified, and so many people are competing for attention and money.
Much of the movie is about questioning what we see on our devices and the lies that those in power might be trying to sell us. As a result, the world of The Running Man doesn’t feel so far away right now, does it?
Of course, if all of that sounds too close to home, the movie still has you covered. Michael Cera puts in a genuinely hilarious turn as a hardcore rebel who still lives with his mom, and Powell spends one particular sequence dashing about in a truly precariously-placed towel. There are also plenty of stunts to keep action fans happy along the way.
The Running Man streams on Paramount+ from January 13.
The post The Running Man Will Find its Real Audience on Streaming appeared first on Den of Geek.
