Under his “Richard Bachman” pseudonym, Stephen King wrote a 1982 action/sci-fi tale called The Running Man that made it to the big screen in 1987 with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead. 38 years later, filmmaker Edgar Wright decided to give the property another cinematic go via his 2025 adaptation of The Running Man.

In the USA of the near future, a telecommunication company called The Network rules the land and keeps most of the population in poverty, with nothing more than violent reality shows to placate them. Called The Running Man, the most popular promises contestants a massive fortune if they can survive for 30 days while skilled mercenaries attempt to kill them.

When his young daughter Cathy becomes severely ill and he can’t afford treatment, Ben Richards (Glen Powell) agrees to participate in The Running Man. He encounters a constant series of threats as he attempts to stay alive for a month and reap the rewards.

Though it came out close to Schwarzenegger’s peak as a box office draw, the 1987 Man became a surprising disappointment financially. Despite rising star Powell at the helm, the 2025 version fared even worse.

With a $110 million budget, the updated Man managed only $68 million in worldwide grosses. That spelled a major loss of money.

I never thought much of the 1987 Man, but I went into the 2025 version with some optimism due to the directors involved. While the 1987 film came from the utterly pedestrian Paul Michael Glaser, the talented Edgar Wright adapted the 2025 edition.

Wright does manage to create a more effective production than Glaser did 38 years earlier. However, that doesn’t mean Wright brings us a particularly satisfying rendition of King’s tale.

Expect a Running Man with a stronger reflection of the current culture. Of course, the 1987 edition commented on the USA of the late Reagan era as well, but the 2025 version offers the more obvious take on modern times.

In particular, the film accentuates the broken state of healthcare in the US. While a tale of a guy forced to play a “game” that involves murderous bounty hunters just to pay to cure his daughter’s illness takes matters to an extreme, it nonetheless reminds us of the struggles many must suffer simply to survive.

While this echoes the Trump world of 2025, the movie actually offers a pretty faithful take on King’s original. The 1987 film took tons of liberties but Wright’s follows the novel more closely.

I think that makes the 2025 Running Man the superior story, and not just because it traces the source in a more literal manner. It also manages to evolve the characters and narrative in a more compelling way.

Though as I implied earlier, Wright’s Running Man still never quite manages to click. Wright makes sure that the movie progresses at a good pace but the final product simply lacks the spark required to take it to a higher level.

That said, it does manage to provide reasonable entertainment across its 133 minutes, and Powell definitely becomes a better-acted and more believable hero than Schwarzenegger did. Honestly, the casting of Schwarzenegger almost certainly required the 1987 version to alter the source just because no one would accept him as the “common man” the King story features.

I don’t know if Powell will ever become a true A-list movie star, as even though Hollywood seems to want to make that particular fetch happen, he just doesn’t seem to have turned into a bankable actor. Nonetheless, he delivers a fairly good performance as Ben and he adds humanity to the project absent from the more cartoony 1987 film.

Wright also creates a more dynamic action experience than Glazer could. As mentioned, Glazer never turned into anything more than a completely mediocre filmmaker, so Wright brings much more style to the proceedings.

Despite all these positives, I still feel less enthusiastic than I’d prefer. Sometimes a movie comes with objective positives but simply never really hits the mark.

And that becomes the case with the 2025 Running Man. Although it delivers a largely entertaining mix of action and commentary, it lacks the charge it needs to become a truly special production.

The Running Man appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. A native 4K production, expect a top-notch Dolby Vision presentation here.

Virtually no softness crept into the presentation. This meant the film consistently appeared accurate and concise.

I witnessed no signs of jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes seemed absent. Print flaws also never reared their ugly head, as the movie looked clean at all times.

Like most modern action films, Running Man opted for a stylized palette in which amber/orange and teals dominated. Within those choices, the hues appeared well-rendered, and HDR gave the tones extra punch.

Blacks seemed dense and firm, while shadows appeared fairly smooth and clear. HDR added zing to whites and contrast. Everything about the image excelled.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Running Man worked well, as the movie presented an engaging soundfield. Not surprisingly, its best moments related to the mix of action scenes, as these helped open up the spectrum pretty nicely and added real zing to the proceedings.

We got good stereo impressions from the music along with solid environmental material. The latter reverberated in the rear speakers to positive effect, and some unique action material popped up there as well.

No problems with audio quality occurred. Speech was always concise and natural, and I noticed no edginess or other concerns.

Music seemed bright and lively. Effects showed good distinctiveness, and they offered nice low-end when appropriate. All of this created a strong sonic impression that made the movie more involving.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? Both came with identical audio.

Unsurprisingly, the Dolby Vision HDR boasted superior colors, blacks and delineation. That said, it became less of an upgrade than I expected for a native 4K production, so it looked better but it didn't become a tremendous leap over the BD.

As we shift to extras, we open with an audio commentary from writer/director Edgar Wright, writer Michael Bacall and actor Glen Powell. All three sit together for a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, comparisons with the source text and the 1987 version, cast and performances, sets and locations, stunts and action, music, costumes and effects.

Wright always provides an enthusiastic participant in these discussions. That attitude conveys to Powell and Bacall as well, so this means we get a chatty affair.

Unfortunately, the commentary’s informational value varies because we get more than our daily recommended allowance of happy talk. Though we find enough useful filmmaking facts to flesh out the track, all the praise makes it less solid than I’d prefer.

Three featurettes follow, and The Hunters and the Hunted goes for 16 minutes, 34 seconds. It offers notes from Wright, Powell, Bacall, and actors Katy O'Brian, Martin O'Herlihy, William H. Macy, Daniel Ezra, Michael Cera, Lee Pace, Karl Glusman, Josh Brolin and Colman Domingo.

The show discusses cast, characters and performances. It mixes some moderate insights with a lot of fluff.

Welcome to the Running Man spans 16 minutes, 45 seconds. It brings info from Wright, Bacall, O'Brian, Pace, Brolin, Domingo, production designer Marcus Rowland, supervising location manager Eugene Strange, picture vehicles supervisor Nico Ferrari, concept designer Oscar Wright, and makeup and hair designer Sharon Martin.

Here we find info about sets and locations as well as vehicles and set dressing, Easter eggs, costumes, hair and makeup. "Welcome" gives us a solid look at these domains.

Finally, Surviving the Game lasts 28 minutes, 37 seconds. This one involves Wright, Powell, O'Brian, Pace, Rowland, Cera, Glusman, Bacall, Brolin, supervising stunt coordinator Nikki Berwick, and actor Sean Hayes.

"Game" talks more about locations along with training, stunts, the movie's tone and Edgar Wright's approach, dancing, the flick's game shows, photography, additional thoughts about performances, various effects, and themes. Though a bit puffier than I'd prefer, "Game" still delivers an appealing array of insights

The commentary and featurettes above also appear on the included Blu-ray copy but the 4K UHD offers additional extras and these open with The Hunt Begins. It lasts 11 minutes, 31 seconds and involves Edgar Wright, Bacall, O’Brian, Powell, Brolin, Pace, and actor Jayme Lawson

We look at the 2025’s path to the screen as well as the adaptation of the novel, story/characters, how the tale reflects the current culture, story/characters, cast and performances, and Wright’s impact. “Hunt” mixes useful notes with fluff.

Under The Running Man Commercials, five clips appear and span a total of two minutes. These show the “in-movie” promos briefly seen in the film so I like our chance to watch them solo.

Three more clips appear under The Running Man Show (4:21). These compile violent moments from the “in-movie” excerpts from the titular TV series and turn into another fun addition ala the commercials.

In the same vein, Self-Tapes (14:31) gives us extended looks at the videos shot by six characters. Expect cool snippets that give us extended footage from the brief bits seen in the film.

Two more clips appear via Other Network Shows, as we find snippets of Speed the Wheel (2:18) and The Americanos (10:05). I continue to enjoy this kind of material, especially our closer look at the very Kardashians Americanos.

The Apostle splits into two segments that total four minutes, 19 seconds. These let us focus on that character’s videos more closely and they’re fun.

Next we go to a one-minute, 39-second Stunts Compilation. It gives us rehearsal footage for some of the movie’s violence and it becomes an enjoyable addition.

Hair, Make-up and Costume Test goes a whopping 25 minutes, 46 seconds as it presents the actors in various guises. I can’t claim this rocks my world but it offers a decent component.

12 Deleted and Extended Scenes occupy a total of 11 minutes, three seconds. These give us pretty minor additions so don’t anticipate anything memorable.

Finally, we get three trailers and three Digital Spots.

As an update on both a 1980s novel and film, this take on The Running Man provides intermittent thrills along with social commentary. However, it doesn’t quite click like I hoped it would, so it becomes a watchable but erratic action experience. The 4K UHD boasts very good picture and audio along with a nice array of bonus materials. Though superior to the 1987 flick, the 2025 Running Man fails to live up to expectations.