The Running Man Review: Edgar Wright’s Slowest Movie Yet—What Went Wrong?

The Running Man Review: I wanted to love this movie. Edgar Wright adapting a Stephen King story with Glenn Powell in the lead? That’s the kind of combination that should print money and adrenaline at the same time. But walking out of the theater, I just sat there thinking—how did something with this much potential end up feeling so… safe?

I’ve been an Edgar Wright fan since Shaun of the Dead. His stuff always moves — the rhythm, the editing, the way humor and tension overlap like gears in a clock. But The Running Man (2025)? It stumbles. The pacing’s off, the tone’s confused, and half the energy that usually defines Wright’s work just isn’t here.

My Rating: 2.5/5

Movie Title	The Running Man (2025)
Director	Edgar Wright
Based On	The Running Man novel by Stephen King (written under the name Richard Bachman)
Genre	Sci-Fi, Action, Thriller
Release Year	2025
Runtime	2h 13m
Main Cast	Glenn Powell, Coleman Domingo, Josh Brolan
Country	United States
Language	English

A Promising Start That Fades Fast

The setup had me hooked. Glenn Powell plays Ben Richards, a broke father in a bleak, surveillance-heavy future where people literally watch each other for sport. His daughter’s sick, the bills are crushing him, and his only way out is signing up for The Running Man — a 30-day survival game where the whole world hunts you down with phones and drones.

On paper, it’s brilliant. In execution, it’s… complicated. The idea of turning social media into the world’s biggest manhunt feels uncomfortably real, especially now. There’s something darkly clever in watching people livestream their cruelty for clout. For about 20 minutes, I thought Wright was onto something genuinely sharp.

Then the movie slows down. And keeps slowing down. For a story literally about running for your life, the middle section feels like it’s jogging in place.

Glenn Powell Carries More Weight Than He Should

Glenn Powell gives the movie everything. He’s the kind of actor who can be charming one second and broken the next. You buy him as a guy who’s desperate but still trying to keep a little dignity. There’s this moment where he’s hiding in a crowded metro station, sweat pouring, breathing heavy, and for about thirty seconds, I was locked in. Then someone cracks a random joke, and the entire tone collapses.

That’s really the problem—tonal whiplash. Wright’s known for mixing humor and tension, but here it feels off-balance. A grim chase scene will cut to an awkward gag, and it’s like the movie suddenly forgets what kind of story it’s telling.

Coleman Domingo and Josh Brolin: Great, But Barely There

Coleman Domingo, though — that guy’s electric. Every time he’s on screen as the host of the deadly game show, the movie suddenly wakes up. He’s got that flamboyant, menacing showman energy that the whole film should have leaned into. There’s one line where he talks about “audience engagement metrics” like he’s a prophet of chaos, and you can’t look away.

Then he’s gone.

Josh Brolin shows up as Killian, the corporate puppet master behind it all, and it honestly feels like he filmed his scenes between coffee breaks. He’s good, obviously — Brolin could read a grocery list and make it sound menacing — but he’s barely part of the story.

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The Sound Design and the Slow Burn

I don’t know if it was just my theater, but the sound design felt weak. Explosions had no punch. Gunshots sounded like poppers. There’s a grenade scene that should’ve rattled the seats, but it felt like watching a YouTube clip with the volume turned down. Wright’s usually so detail-obsessed about these things that it was weirdly distracting.

And man, that runtime. The 1987 Running Man was about an hour and forty minutes and zipped by. This one’s over two hours, and you feel every minute of it.

The Wright Touch — But Only in Flashes

There are flashes of classic Edgar Wright buried in there. A quick-cut montage where Richards disguises himself. A drone chase that almost channels Baby Driver’s kinetic pulse. A clever edit that ties two completely different conversations together. You see glimpses of that rhythm, that spark — and it just makes it more frustrating that the rest of the movie feels like someone pressed pause on his usual style.

Final Thoughts on The Running Man

Look, The Running Man (2025) isn’t terrible. It’s competently made, well-acted, and has a few genuinely good moments. But it’s forgettable — and that’s the worst thing a Wright film can be. It’s a movie that should’ve sprinted but decided to jog.

If you’re a hardcore Edgar Wright fan, you’ll probably watch it anyway out of loyalty. But if you’re just looking for a good dystopian thriller, maybe wait for streaming. I promise you won’t miss much.

My rating: 2.5 out of 5.

A good cast trapped in a slow script. A great director working below his usual level. And a story that proves sometimes, running too close to the source material can slow you down.