Filmmaker Edgar Wright and critical acclaim typically go hand-in-hand, but the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World director's take on The Running Man isn't receiving the rave reviews we're sure many of you expected it to.
As we first reported on SFFGazette.com, The Running Man has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 64% based on 58 reviews. That puts it in "Fresh" territory, but if it slips by 5% or more, then it will earn the dreaded green splat. The original 1987 movie, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, sits at 59%.
Compared to Wright's previous features, The Running Man is trailing behind Baby Driver (92%), Shaun of the Dead (92%), Hot Fuzz (91%), The World's End (89%), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (83%), and Last Night in Soho (75%).
"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," writes The Hollywood Reporter. "It also fails to erase lingering doubts about Glen Powell’s viability as a leading man."
Variety has a slightly different take and points out, "Released in 1987, 'The Running Man' was a lumbering Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. You could say that Edgar Wright, the director of the new version, has made it into a decent Bruce Willis movie."
"It's Wright's biggest, boldest canvas yet, and while it is less funny or flashily directed than his earlier fare, he doesn't miss a chance to rib American popular culture or the capitalist horrors it fostered, as King once did," Empire states, with Total Film sharing, "Ultimately, The Running Man is a run-of-the-mill action flick, which is bitterly disappointing for a film adapted from a Stephen King story, helmed by a skilled filmmaker like Edgar Wright, and starring one of cinema's most promising leading men."
In Mashable's review, it's said, "The Running Man is a sloppy collage of violence, action, and cheap jokes that is far more style than substance." The Daily Telegraph expands on that with, "It’s perhaps Wright’s first feature to feel, in a positive way, like the work of a director for hire: every flourish and trick here isn’t in service of a singular creative vision so much as a great, rumbling excitement machine."
USA Today was much kinder, sharing, "A lively, satirical stab at modern-day reality TV, scary big-brother technology, cultural dissension and rampant income inequality, all slathered in blood-soaked ultraviolence and bonkers charm." As The Times puts it, "Well, at least we’ll always have the Cornetto trilogy."
So, it's a bit of a mixed bag, and The Running Man clearly isn't going to be a runaway critical hit. How much of an impact this will have on its opening weekend is hard to say, as we're still waiting on updated box office projections.
In a near-future society, The Running Man is the top-rated show on television—a deadly competition where contestants, known as Runners, must survive 30 days while being hunted by professional assassins, with every move broadcast to a bloodthirsty public and each day bringing a greater cash reward.
Desperate to save his sick daughter, working-class Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is convinced by the show’s charming but ruthless producer, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), to enter the game as a last resort. But Ben’s defiance, instincts, and grit turn him into an unexpected fan favourite—and a threat to the entire system.
As ratings skyrocket, so does the danger, and Ben must outwit not just the Hunters but a nation addicted to watching him fall.
Based on the novel by Stephen King, The Running Man is directed by Edgar Wright from a screenplay by Wright and Michael Bacall. The movie stars Glen Powell, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Emilia Jones, Michael Cera, Daniel Ezra, Jayme Lawson, with Colman Domingo and Josh Brolin.
The Running Man arrives in theaters this Friday.