With the mammoth task of remaking a classic action film, director Edgar Wright faced no easy feat.
And the jury is out from critics on Running Man, with some hailing Glen Powell ‘Tom Cruise’s successor’ while others questioned if the actor has the capabilities of being a leading man.
The film varied everywhere from two to five stars in early reviews, ahead of its release in cinemas on November 14.
Running Man takes place in a dystopian future where a TV show follows criminal ‘runners’ escaping professional killers, with Glen playing Ben Richards.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s original movie, was released in 1987, was based on the novel by Stephen King, and has gained cult status since its moderate box office success and mixed reviews from critics.
However, the remake doesn’t appear to live up to the classic, if the early reviews are anything to go by.
Running Man, which stars Glen Powell, varied everywhere from two to five stars in early reviews, ahead of its release in cinemas on November 14
The jury is out from critics on Running Man, with some hailing Glen Powell ‘ Tom Cruise ‘s successor’ (pictured)
Chief film critic of The Telegraph Robbie Collin gave the film a five star review.
He wrote: ‘Look, I’m not saying that ever since Glen Powell caught the world’s eye in Top Gun: Maverick, the puppyish Texan has been deliberately and strategically positioned by Hollywood as a successor to Tom Cruise.
‘But if someone had been – well, it’s hard to think of a more effective means of doing so than by having him star in The Running Man, a kinetic, stylish, obviously physically and technically demanding new adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 novel about a reality TV show with life or death stakes.
‘It feels like a vintage Cruise project from his Minority Report and Collateral era – an action film with a timeliness that underscores, though never overwhelms, its go-for-broke showmanship.’
The Hollywood Reporter doubted Glen’s stage presence as the film’s leading man and said the plot felt ‘hollow’.
‘Edgar Wright’s update of the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle of the same name, while it has no shortage of action and adrenaline, ends up feeling hollow. It also fails to erase lingering doubts about Glen Powell’s viability as a leading man,’ David Rooney wrote.
‘Written by Wright with his collaborator Michael Bacall, the new version hews far more closely to the source material than its predecessor.
‘But the jokey qualities and irreverent personality that have energized Wright’s best films sit somewhat awkwardly against the grim picture of class and wealth inequality, poverty, inadequate healthcare and oppressive law enforcement. It’s somehow both fast-moving and lumbering, exciting and numbing.’
The critic added while he was invested for a while, he ultimately felt ‘worn down’.
Some critics doubted Glen’s stage presence as the film’s leading man and said the plot felt ‘hollow’
Arnold Schwarzenegger ‘s original movie, was released in 1987, was based on the novel by Stephen King, under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, and has gained cult status
The Independent believes Edgar has ‘lost that once-ironclad grasp of tone’ that he was known for and gave the film a measly two stars.
‘Wright, who made his name in witty genre parodies (most famously, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz), has increasingly shifted towards more traditional Hollywood fare. In doing so, he’s lost much of that once-ironclad grasp of tone,’ Clarisse Loughrey wrote.
‘King’s novel was previously adapted in 1987, loosely, with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the role of Richards. It’s deeply inelegant, but at least the satire works in its own garish way.
‘Here, while Wright hews more closely to the book’s original plot, all that bite has been filed down by slick manoeuvres and cutesy gags.’
The film scored marginally better with The Guardian, who awarded the remake three stars.
Critic Peter Bradshaw wrote: ‘Full-tilt chase sequences, a punk aesthetic and a sugar-rush soundtrack, means there is plenty of enjoyment to be had as Edgar Wright goes back to King’s original 1982 novel.
‘The resulting film is never anything but likable and fun – though never actually disturbing in the way that it’s surely supposed to be and the ending is fudged and anticlimactic.
‘Yet there’s plenty of enjoyment to be had.’
The novel is centered on a desperate Ben Richards (played by Glen) who needs money for his sick daughter, so he joins the popular TV show The Running Man.
The longer a contestant survives, the more money that person makes with Richards soon taking on the show’s dark secrets and villainous producers.
Edgar has been attached to the project since 2021 after citing it as the film he would most like to remake.
John Brolin, William H Macy and Edgar’s Scott Pilgrim lead Michael Cera are also in the cast.
Glen spoke out on his part in the project during a summer interview with IndieWire, gushing: ‘I’m going to be shooting The Running Man in the fall.
‘We’ve been going back and forth on script stuff, and it’s so fun.’
‘The world that Edgar’s developed on this thing is just outrageous. It’s so good.
‘And really, we’re just both such big fans of the Stephen King book [the movie is based on], and it’s going to be a great character. I’m so fired up about it.’
The Running Man premieres in cinemas on November 14.
