Making The Running Man: Themes & 2025 Setting

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The fabulous Edgar Wright joins us on this week’s Take to talk ‘The Running Man’—his new adaptation of the Stephen King dystopia. You might remember the Arnie version from 1987, but Wright’s is a refreshed take starring very angry action man Glen Powell. He plays Ben Richards, an out-of-work dad living in the slums of a sci-fi totalitarian state, who enters a deathmatch gameshow in the hope of winning the cash he needs to save his sick child. Edgar and Simon talk action classics, staying on Arnie’s good side, and why Stephen King called the film ‘Die Hard for our time’.

Mark reviews it too—plus two more big movies out this week: a blockbuster and an exciting indie. In the arthouse corner, the Palme d’Or-winning ‘Titane’ director Julia Ducournau’s latest, ‘Alpha’. In her usual out-there style, it follows a troubled teenage girl who returns home with a mysterious tattoo, amidst a terrifying bloodborne epidemic. And from Hollywood, ‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t’, the latest entry in the slick magician‑heist franchise... which has left Mark wishing it would do a disappearing act. Ladies and gentlemen, be marveled as a Kermodean rant is conjured before your eyes!

Plus more exquisite dad jokes and guaranteed groans in The Laughter Lift, and we’ll hear plenty from you lovely lot as always—including some prizewinning pedantry. Keep it coming!

AND Don’t miss our upcoming LIVE Christmas Extravaganza at London’s Prince Edward Theatre on 7th December—with special guests Nia DaCosta, Gurinder Chadha, and more! Tickets here: fane.co.uk/kermode-mayo

Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free)

Alpha Review: 13:11

BO10: 21:42

Edgar Wright Interview: 38:14

The Running Man Review: 53:04

Laughter Lift: 1:03:12

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t Review: 1:04:40

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