Managed to see Running Man yesterday. Below are my thoughts:
Ok, what happened to Edgar Wright?
The Running Man isn’t necessarily a “bad” movie. It’s very entertaining, silly, over-the-top, and fun. It just pales in comparison to everything Edgar Wright directed before. The pacing is poor. It takes around an hour for the action to kick in, and even then there are occasional, painful lulls.
The writing (by Edgar Wright and Michael Bacall) is at times passable, other times very weak. The editing is confused and sloppy, the cinematography just ok. It’s very tonally uneven. The Running Man is mostly a silly, goofy action film but it also wants to have a message and be taken seriously. The over-the-top fun and the serious societal commentary don’t gel in the slightest.
The cast is stacked (Josh Brolin, William H. Macy, Michael Cera, Colman Domingo, Glen Powell, Lee Pace, Katy O’Brian, Martin Herlihy, and Daniel Ezra). Everyone shows up to work. Josh Brolin is effective with minimal screen time as Dan Killian, the creator of The Running Man show. Glen Powell is fun as Ben Richards, the “angriest contestant” The Running Man has ever had. In all honesty, his anger isn’t believable.
The best members of the cast are as follows. Colman Domingo plays Bobby T, the flashy host of The Running Man. Colman is likely puts on the best performance in the film. He gets minimal screen time but is very memorable.
Lee Pace plays McCone, the deadly and deadly serious head of The Hunters, the mercenary group out for Richards’ head. Pace isn’t given much to do until the last act, but the character design for McCoy is visually striking and cool. He also gets a pretty good backstory. Daniel Ezra plays Bradley, who hosts his own independent show exposing the lies of The Running Man and The Network that runs it. He’s ultimately a shade of Bobby T, but Bradley is definitively on the side of good.
Edgar Wright’s distinctive visual style is occasionally on display here, but more often than not his visual flair is missing and the dialogue can be quite bad (Here’s looking at you, Michael Cera’s monologue). That said, when this film’s images pop, they really pop. Enjoy it while it’s there, I guess.
Once again, The Running Man is not a “bad” movie. It mostly entertains while it’s on, though you definitely start to feel the length during the third act. With Edgar Wright’s name attached, you naturally expect more. This is the rare time he hasn’t delivered the goods. The Running Man tries to balance silly, goofy, over-the-top fun with a serious and timely message but ultimately fails at this tight rope act. Check it out if you’re looking for some decent, fluffy, surface-level fun. Those looking for anything more are going to leave disappointed.
3 STARS