The Running Man Rips Into Reality TV. It Should’ve Been About the Internet.

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Stephen King’s 1982 novel, The Running Man (published under the name Richard Bachman), imagined a dark future America where people desperate for money were forced to compete in a deadly game show for the nation’s entertainment. He set the story in 2025, a date he chose to feel both believable and like a warning – and now, with Edgar Wright’s new movie adaptation, that future has arrived. While we might not have the bleak, uniform aesthetic of the book just yet, the film feels particularly relevant. The world Ben Richards (Glen Powell) lives in is harsh: basic necessities like medicine are unavailable to the poor, and people are driven to desperate measures to survive. Though our current situation isn’t quite as extreme, we face similar problems – huge income inequality, poor healthcare, and a lack of faith in traditional ways of earning a living. Like the audience in The Running Man, we’re constantly bombarded with media that’s often manipulative and divisive, though today it’s found online rather than on television.

It’s strange to see a movie fueled by today’s anxieties, yet feel strangely stuck in the past—like someone complaining about the world while blaming it on modern music. While reality TV definitely shapes how we see things and even played a role in our current president’s rise, the movie The Running Man now feels more relevant to the internet. The film portrays reality TV as a way to distract and control people, and that’s what the internet does now. Despite a messy ending, the movie is exciting and features a lead actor trying to become the next big action star, though he’s not always believable as an angry person. It’s more of a fun, big-budget action movie than a serious commentary on society, and its misunderstanding of reality TV makes its message weak. The director is known for cleverly referencing pop culture—like referencing Resident Evil 2 in Spaced or using an invasion theme to explore aging in The World’s End. However, he doesn’t seem to really understand or enjoy reality TV.

FreeVee, the network watched by almost everyone, features shows like a parody of the Kardashians called The Americanos, starring Debi Mazar, and a bizarre game show where overweight contestants answer trivia while running on an accelerating hamster wheel. These shows aren’t exactly thought-provoking. The Running Man game show, hosted by the smooth Colman Domingo, is like American Idol – except instead of singing, contestants desperately try to avoid being fatally shot. Ben, along with fellow contestants Jansky and Laughlin, makes it to the final round, earning prizes for each day they survive and each guard they defeat. The winner who lasts 30 days receives a billion-dollar prize, something no one has ever achieved. You’d expect that to hint at manipulation, but Ben, who spends all his time watching FreeVee, needs an activist named Bradley to explain the game is rigged, along with concepts like ‘villain edits’ and predictable contestant roles.

The show feels a bit old-fashioned, especially with its 8 p.m. timeslot. This plot device allows the protagonist, Ben, to escape danger because the producer needs to stick to the schedule. The idea of an evil media corporation relying on primetime viewership seems outdated now, when we can watch whatever we want, whenever we want, on our phones and computers. The way Ben is portrayed to the public – as a troublemaker who deserves his fate – is unsettling, and a reminder that in real life, it’s not typically people who look like him who are targeted and hunted. The Running Man feels almost too close to reality, and what it lacks – the influence of the internet – is surprisingly noticeable. Ben’s plea for viewers to stop watching is endearingly simple – just turn off the TV! While a single, controlling source of misinformation feels scary, it’s almost comforting compared to today’s world where it seems like no one is truly in control, and even leaders are caught up in endless online arguments, unable to disconnect.

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2025-11-14 18:55