Glen Powell’s star power fails to ignite in a disappointing remake of The Running Man, while Rose Byrne shines in a challenging new drama.
THE RUNNING MAN (MA15+)
Director: Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead)
Starring: Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo.
**1/2
Little chance of going the distance
Once upon a time in the early 1980s, The Running Man was a Stephen King book.
Later that same decade, the same text was torn-up and reglued together as an Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick.
Now, almost 40 years later, King’s dystopian tale of reality TV in its deadliest form is the recipient of a second, more faithful, adaptation.
Though the new version’s heart is in the right place, its head is often elsewhere, due to miscasting.
Most movie fans would have assumed the presence of the indefatigably charismatic and telegenic Glen Powell – one of the hottest movie stars on the planet right now – was a sure-fire ticket to success.
However, the moment Powell steps into the boots once worn by Arnie, something seems off. And no matter how hard The Running Man tries, it just cannot persuade us that Powell is on his best game here.
To cut directly to the chase – and remember, the concept in play here is one, long elaborate chase – Powell just does not make a convincing or relatable fit for the leading role.
He plays Ben Richards, a desperate family man living in a future where he is forced to take drastic measures to provide for his wife and child.
The one passport out of poverty for an near-unemployable dude like Ben is to become a contestant on the hit game show Running Man.
All Ben needs to do is survive 30 days in the real world without being caught by a military-grade pursuit team who will shoot him on sight.
If he can dodge all those bullets with his name on them – and also stay away from a public encouraged to dob him in for a lucrative reward – then Ben will claim a billion-dollar payout.
There is just one obvious problem, of course. No-one in the history of this long-running, high-rating program has ever made it past Day 29.
And this dire statistic points a whole lot of hidden problems for Ben, the closer he gets to the finish line: largely because the Running Man producers (led by a dastardly Josh Brolin) are secretly breaking their own rules to avoid a payout.
While director Edgar Wright does a fine job in depicting a chilling future where an unholy trinity of technology, media and money will rule above all else, he cannot cover for the deficiencies of the main character.
The perpetually angry and bitter Ben is not a hero that easily draws our support or sympathy, and Powell is at a loss as to how keep us on his side.
The Running Man is in cinemas now.
NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T (M)
***
General release.
There were two Now You See Mes about a decade ago, both of which were efficient, enjoyable crowd-pleasers. The overall effect was like Fast & Furious movies for people who weren’t really that much into hotted-up cars, but had a thing for high-concept magic acts. Nothing much has changed with this belated sequel. The heroes remain that renegade gang of illusionists known as The Horsemen (played by Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco), only this time they are joining forces with a next-gen band of young sleight-of-handers (led by Dominic Sessa of The Holdovers fame). This lively bunch of tricksters – all with Robin Hood-ish tendencies to teach the undeserving rich a lesson – will be clashing with a villainous South African tycoon-ess (Rosamund Pike) for possession of the largest known diamond in the world. While this is very much a popcorn flick designed to consumed and forgotten in a hurry, there is a creative flair to many of the elaborate set-piece tricks that will linger in the memory (and be worthy of a how-did-they-do-that? second look when the movie hits the streaming platforms later this summer).
IF I HAD LEGS, I’D KICK YOU (M)
**1/2
Selected cinemas.
If I’d had my wits about me, I’d have made a run for it about ten minutes into this grim, unrelenting portrait of a therapist in desperate need of therapy. Once writer-director Mary Bronstein hits the exact note of disoriented despair she has in mind for her protagonist, nothing much changes for the rest of the movie. In a perfect world, we might be looking at a black comedy where the jokes keep landing on the right side of uncomfortable. However, the material Bronstein is cutting through here is not designed to put smiles on dials. Instead, you’ll be leaving the cinema faintly depressed and totally exhausted. If you do hit the exits impressed in any way, it will be due to Rose Byrne’s fearless and chillingly committed display as Linda, a full-time mother and part-time shrink whose life is falling apart in a multitude of mystifying ways. Though the movie itself is an acquired taste to say the least, there are elements to Byrne’s intense performance that suggests there will be a number of major dramatic roles heading her way in years to come.
