The film – which takes as its source material Stephen King’s novel, rather than the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle – unfolds in a dystopian future America in which affordable healthcare is a distant fantasy for most, and where wealth is concentrated in the hands of a tiny, greedy elite while the majority struggle to survive on scraps. Power – political and otherwise – is in the hands of corporations. Principal among these is the Network, an entertainment mega-corp that numbs hunger pangs and quells any rumblings of dissent through an appetising package of hate figures and extreme violence: the wildly popular reality TV show, The Running Man, on which contestants try to outrun “hunters” hired to kill them. King’s 1982 novel, it’s worth noting, was set in 2025.
