This year’s The Running Man, is a) a sequel to the 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, or b) the latest from director Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Baby Driver), or c) the latest from quickly rising star Glen Powell). Of course, it’s all three, but these three descriptions may determine your mindset going in and your thought process going out.

The plot in brief: Family man in need of money gets a spot on a reality show that can win him a billion dollars at the risk of being killed, which is almost a foregone conclusion. Why is this so dangerous? Because there are network goons out to kill you at all times, and there are rewards for anyone, yes anyone, to kill you too.  With Schwarzenegger at the center, the older film knew that it couldn’t be taken too seriously, as its lead was, of course, Arnold, who is indestructible and can’t be taken all that seriously. Plus, not everyone in the world was after him.

This film departs from the Stephen King book and the 1980’s film in several ways, which you can Google anywhere. For me, the two biggest departures are the tone and the lead. The first version was always going to be tongue-in-cheek, and the hits on media, society, and “the man” were touched upon, but not dwelt upon. The new version is cinematic nihilism– not my favorite tone nor theme. This is a dark, beyond cynical, nearly humorless, bloody action film with some great character performances and an aimable central character that bring moments of, if not lightness, then at least some distraction from the fetid pessimism of the rest of the film.

There are some standout moments here and there, most provided by star cameos or intense secondary characters. William H. Macy was a welcome sight, and then a disappointment in his absence. Having Michael Cera pop in as well-prepared conspiratorialist sends the film in an awkward narrative and tonal direction for a while, but it’s an enjoyable side journey. Colman Domingo (above) bites deeply and successfully into his role as the TV show host. He rather brilliantly represents everything wrong with today’s reality TV and media, apparently a sharp indictment of us all. Then there is Josh Brolin, who chomps up his role with the same intensity as Domingo. His role goes from big to bigger to biggest, which is all that should be said before seeing the film.

That leaves us with Glen Powell, the actor currently working harder than any other at the moment to become and stay a star, even at the risk of overexposure. For the producers, he was probably a good and bankable fit. But he’s given two hurdles from the get-go. One is that his character was burdened with a literally incredible situation at the beginning, and then Powell really can’t bring what’s necessary to the role—internally, anyway—until the end of the film. Powell is so likeable a screen personality that we instantly align ourselves with him from the start. The fact that this strong and able man is suddenly unable to get a job is hard to swallow, as is his situation as one who needs medicine for his desperately ill daughter. It’s just a bit much…couldn’t someone have come up with a slightly more compelling and believable set-up for such a risky action? We were already going to side with Powell no matter what, and the film would have been the stronger for a less melodramatic impetus.

There are advantages and disadvantages to having Powell as your star. He’s a great physical action star, and far more human and vulnerable than an Austrian bodybuilder. His action scenes are completely believable, with one ridiculous exception. American films have traditionally found inane reasons to show the female form, even when it doesn’t make sense (for me, the first awareness of how absurd this can be was The Poseidon Adventure and Carol Lynley’s continual loss of clothing). Of course, Paul Newman was quick to go shirtless in many of his films, as was Matthew McConaughey. Right now, our shirtless male star is Powell, and the film goes to unintentionally humorous lengths to show off his physique.

There was the usual post-shower scene where we see what great shape he’s in. But then it gets borderline ridiculous as he has a towel around his waist that undergoes intense strain as he manages any number of escapes that would have pulled it away in a real world. (It’s on him for a wildly unreasonable length of time.) Then HE decides to get rid of it just in time for viewers to see a quick naked peak before he crashes into a possible escape route. It’s on a recent par with what happens with Oscar Isaac in the most recent Frankenstein (https://filmprof.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1982&action=edit). These hijinks take me out of the film as much as a blatant anachronism or a badly acted scene. We know Powell is in great shape. Showing that off shouldn’t be such a key component of the performance.

Then there is a Powell persona. His character here, Ben Richards, is supposed to be angry, very angry. After showing us his anger, his TV interviewer says before he is chosen, as if we need someone to explain it to us, that he is the angriest contestant they’ve seen. Please, again, show (which you did), not tell. But the problem is that Powell has a nice guy/romance lead/slightly humorous action hero vibe. He simply can’t seem to conjure up the anger the film needs him to have. He’s doing this best to “act” it, but he doesn’t seem to have that level of fury, that is, until the end, when he believably screams into the camera; that’s the only time I accepted rage from his character. Powell is the Cary Grant of action stars now: he’s “the man all women want, and the man that men want to be” (or at least have a beer with). The’s not the dark, mysterious, deeply flawed hero the film needs. But the producer’s choice: excellent. Box office guaranteed.

Then there is the multi-layered socio-political-cultural commentary. Having the public at large be able to kill a TV contestant is dark stuff, and it sets the tone quickly. There are a few kind folks along the way who lighten the tone temporarily, but those scenes imply that kindness has become a rare and almost unrecognizable aspect of humanity. This kind of commentary is hard to work in consistently to a film drenched in nihilism. Literally everyone is out to get Richards, and the film implies that from high to low, everyone is out to get…us. Of the other two contestants accepted along with Richards and whose lives are at stake as well (spoiler alert), one is a jerk who shouldn’t have lasted as long as he did, and the other is a cocky woman dangerously living the supposed high life. She lasts a big longer….

The highlight of the dystopian future presented to us, however, is the presence of the reality series “The Americanos”, a hysterically funny near-perfect imitation of “The Kardashians”. Not seen nearly enough in the film, the quick glimpses remind us of the stupid/silly side of the gradual deterioration of a culture. It’s funny and profoundly sad at the same time.

To enjoy the film, you have to connect with constant danger, bloody encounters, a series of betrayals, and a confusing series of messages on morality and society. Then you’re left with an action film with a great if depressing premise, which totally muffs the end. Instead of bringing things to some kind of logical conclusion, the film simply ramps up the volume until you forget that it’s not really going anywhere and not coming to a cohesive conclusion.  

As for Powell, if he’s not the best actor for this kind of film (it needed to be a younger Liam Neeson or Denzel Washington type who could express the conflicted shadings of the character), then he is a great producer’s choice of a star that can prove he can carry a film, even if he’s only surfing the character rather than fully embodying it.