I've read the book so I know the story. That doesn't mean I'm not going to try to enjoy a retelling of it. Book adaptations are rarely identical to the source material. That's what makes them adaptations. Stephen King stories can be particularly challenging because of how much is what happens in the characters' heads, which does not lend itself to a visual medium.
We know the outline. Man goes on the show to get money for his sick family. He has encounters along his time trying to stay ahead of everyone trying to kill him. He takes down the system. It's not a bad outline and it works for action movies or they wouldn't keep doing it.
In this telling Ben Richards has been blacklisted from pretty much any employment due to things like trying to form unions. He's A Good Guy who just wants to make life better for his family. While he's on the couch, due to quite literally not being able to get a job, he's watching the game shows and how much money people win on them. There's not just The Running Man. There's a variety of games designed to humiliate the players for the viewers' amusement and some cash. Cash? Credits? Whatever.
He decides to audition for one of the low risk shows. The wife is concerned. He assures her he's not going for the brass ring - The Running Man. He gets in line and goes through the audition process. Turns out they run through the audition process to find out what show best suits the person, if any. Ben, of course, ends up chosen for The Running Man along with two others.
He's hesitant but there's a graduating return scale based on how long he stays alive during the thirty days and how many of the show's Hunters he takes out. So his wife will get the money she needs for medicine for their sick child no matter what. They even put his family into their version of witness protection because it seems they've had situations where people have gone after player's families. He signs on the bottom line but is full of righteous fury about it.
OK. Onto the running and the head start. He stops by someone he knows who does electronic and other repairs to get some equipment, including weapons. He's got a stupidly obvious watch-type thing that counts down how long until his next video needs to be mailed. Then he's off and Running.
The bulk of the movie is him trying to not get killed, killing a couple of Hunters more or less by accident, and finding people out there who are willing to help him. One of those is a conspiracy theory podcaster who fills him in on some of the things about the game. They always choose three people - the quick kill, the overconfident mid game kill, and the one who will go near the distance. The podcaster helps him get to the boonies where he can wait out the clock. Calendar. Game.
Nope. Doesn't work out that way. He's ratted out by someone who wants the reward so he's off and Running again. He ends up taking a hostage when he's trying to get to the border (I think?) who goes from brainless network fangirl to seeing the larger issue underneath. She ends up helping him get to the next, and final, phase.
He demands a plane, he gets a plane. He's got the top Hunter with him. Woo. This is where it all comes crashing down on him. The smarmy network guy tells him his family has been killed, then offers him a deal to have his own show, hunting down people. Cue some angst. Cue the top Hunter trying to do the hunting thing. Turns out, gasp, that guy is the one who lasted the longest in The Long Run and was offered the job on the show. It's all rigged!
Ben reveals all of this to his now adoring fans. The network audience gets riotous. There's rioting all over. The network executive gets to find out what happens when the crowd turns against you. Ben flies the plane into the building. He's a martyr.
I believe the book leaves it open as to whether or not he survived the plane crash. The movie does not. They show him taking out network stuff and hooking up with his family, now in a tidy area of the city, so there's the happy ending that's necessary for The Good Guy.
It's a fun action movie if you like those. There's banter. There's some things that someone who's not special ops trained shouldn't be able to do but does anyway. There's characters to like and ones to dislike. Overall it's got the mix right and it's exactly what you should expect from the trailers.
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