This Stephen King dystopian nightmare is an evergreen: It can be re-imagined anew for each generation, thanks to changes in technology, geo-political shifts ... and an increased level of hyper-violence.
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| Ben (Glen Powell, left) has serious doubts when Elton (Michael Cera) invites gun-toting thugs into his home, believing that his many jury-rigged defense systems will save the day. |
This film also is directed by Richard Wright, whose snarky blend of thrills ’n’ chills has been evident since 2004’s Shaun of the Dead, followed by equally clever (and sometimes mildly deranged) hits such as Hot Fuzz, Baby Driver and Last Night in Soho.
Point being, Wright’s sensibilities are spot-on for this angry high-tech parable. Given the current slide into fascism in the United States, and elsewhere in the world, many of the plot points in this adaptation — co-scripted by Wright and Michael Bacall — feel disturbingly conceivable.
The time is the near future, the setting a United States where the gap between the Haves and Have-nots has become a yawning chasm. It’s effectively a police state designed to ensure that the lower classes remain that way. Chances for advancement are restricted to participation in demeaning and barbaric televised “reality game shows.”
The worst challenge — and therefore the most popular — is The Running Man, where “contestants” try to stay alive for 30 days, while being hunted by professional gun-toting pursuers. Contestants also must be wary of their fellow citizens, who earn rewards for identifying or even killing them. The longer a contestant survives, the more s/he earns in “new dollars” (with, as a droll inside joke, Schwarzenegger’s photo in the center of each bill).
Ben Richards (Glen Powell) lives with his family in a poverty-level district dubbed Slumside. As the story beings, he simply wants work. His infant daughter is quite ill, and his wife Sheila (Jayme Lawson) is exhausted, working multiple shifts as a “hostess” in an upscale club. Ben has lost numerous jobs: branded as chronically insubordinate for his tendency to selflessly assist fellow employees who need help (apparently a no-no in this society).
Production designer Marcus Rowland, cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung and a massive sfx crew bring this oppressive futuristic society to persuasively chilling life. (Shades of Blade Runner!)
Desperate for anything, Ben impulsively joins the long queue of folks waiting outside The Network, hoping to land a spot in one of the less lethal game shows. After navigating a series of physical and psychological tests — “You’re the angriest man we’ve ever seen!” one analyst comments, somewhat in awe — he’s quickly spotted by Network head honcho Dan Killian (Josh Brolin).
Killian believes that Ben has the fire and determination to make it as a Runner, and his promise of financial support for Sheila and their daughter proves too tempting to resist.
Ben therefore becomes one of three chosen Runners, alongside the feisty Laughlin (Katy O’Brian) and somewhat dweebish Jansky (Martin Herlihy). They’re granted spending money, supplies and a half-day head start ... after which they’ll be pursued by five lethal Hunters led by the masked Evan McCone (Lee Pace). They’re assisted by surveillance technology, facial recognition software and, well, all sorts of things that already worry us today.
But that isn’t the worst. With an assist from heinous AI, Killian and The Network shamelessly skew the odds by painting Ben and his fellow Runners as the sort of vicious criminals Those In Charge have promised to eradicate from society. That makes everybody hate them, starting with the show’s massive studio audience, laden with amoral, bloodthirsty deplorables.
They’re shamelessly revved up by show host Bobby T (Colman Domingo).
At about this point, it becomes difficult to view this film as merely a vicious escapist fantasy. Too many of Wright’s topical jabs hit very close to home.
Powell is perfectly cast. He’s impressively buff for starters, as revealed in the altogether during a dog-nuts sequence that begins in a seedy hotel room. More crucially, Powell imbues Ben with just the right blend of righteous anger, kindness and compassion. Powell never lets us lose sight of the fact that Ben is an inherently good person ... although even good people can be pushed beyond their breaking point.
Powell’s also good with Ben’s occasional mordant one-liners.
Brolin is chilling as the supreme villain: a smooth-talking con artist whose ingratiating smile is as false as his feigned bonhomie. Ben makes the mistake of believing some of what this power-hungry manipulator promises, but that doesn’t last long. Trouble is, Killian has all manner of resources, kill-crazy mercs and dirty AI tricks at his disposal; the odds against Ben are insurmountable ... particularly when it becomes clear that he’s a true pawn in a programmed nightmare with multiple hidden layers.
Even so, when Ben promises to return and screw Killian to a wall — a threat made with every ounce of Powell’s enraged sincerity — we believe him. (We have to; it’s that kind of movie.)
The odds would be genuinely impossible, were it not for some saviors Ben meets along the way. William H. Macy pops up briefly as a longtime friend with a stash of helpful black-market goodies, and — days later — Ben encounters Elton (Michael Cera), a genius inventor/anarchist who has spent years rigging his large home with traps designed to Stick it to the Man.
“I’m their worst nightmare,” he tells Ben, “a free man with a conscience.”
In a film laden with increasingly audacious action skirmishes, the lengthy sequence in Elton’s home is gleefully outrageous.
Emilia Jones enters the third act as Amelia Williams, an initially terrified civilian taken hostage by Ben. She’s one of the conspicuous-consuming Haves — and Jones plays her to narcissistic, materialistic perfection — but her encounter with Ben will open her eyes to reality.
At 133 minutes, Wright’s film is at least one madcap skirmish too long; he should have let editor Paul Machliss tighten things up a bit. But we’re still firmly in Ben’s corner from start to finish (although, it must be mentioned, this film doesn’t conclude quite the way King wrote his novel).
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