🚨 THE RUNNING MAN Remake ... I Can't BELIEVE I'm Saying This (2025 Review) 🚨

Overview

Drumdums expected to love Edgar Wright’s The Running Man, but ultimately prefers the original. He’s surprised to learn the story was written by Stephen King, then jokes about King’s fondness for deadly competitions—especially after The Long Walk.

The remake follows Ben Richards (Glen Powell), an angry, out-of-work father who joins a deadly game show for money. The show’s wealthy, calculating producer, Killian (Josh Brolin), sees Ben as an ideal contestant. The film explores how producers shape contestants’ public images and keep viewers hooked.

What Works

Drumdums praises the film’s themes of media manipulation, Powell’s action-hero performance, and Wright’s energetic editing and visual comedy. He also compliments Coleman Domingo and the supporting cast.

What Doesn’t

Although ambitious, the roughly 2-hour-and-15-minute film feels overlong to Drumdums. Its many locations and stop-start pacing sap its momentum, and he thinks the final stretch overstays its welcome.

He finds the original tighter, more rewatchable, and more satisfying overall.

Verdict

Drumdums gives the remake a “high humdrum” rating and says he’d choose Predator: Badlands over it.

A running joke is that the review’s opening took about ten attempts to record; the version that made the cut was simply the one where the reviewer ran out of steam. He closes by inviting viewers to share their opinions and plugging his other channels and community.

Personalities Discussed

Drumdums, Edgar Wright, Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Coleman Domingo, and Katie O’Brien.