mBut how were genre films made before Stephen King? Just recovered from emotional conflict Chuck’s Life And Walk or diewe now need to put on our sneakers and start running in Glen Powell’s footsteps Running Man ! The early novels are certainly not Stephen King’s most famous novels, and for good reason: they were written long before fame came to him, at a time when the still-unknown author had given himself over to a fierce, disillusioned vision of America in stories that were as dry as the strokes of a stick. The book was also belatedly published in 1982 – several years after it was written – under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.
Running Man takes place in a futuristic dystopian world where game shows serve as the national opiate. To escape poverty, Ben Richards, a desperate father, agrees to take part in the country’s deadliest event: a live televised manhunt, in which he must escape a group of killers who are chasing him. Maybe you remember the first screen adaptation of this novel: in 1987, in a lavish B series featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger by Paul Michael Glaser – Starsky of Starsky and Hutch.
Sequence of virtuoso actions
The multi-hued Schwarzy is on the run from start to finish to escape the TV killers, in a kitschy thriller that owes little to King’s pen. Inspiration seems to come more from other films, Danger Price by Yves Boisset, released in 1983, with Gérard Lanvin as a candidate in the running. The similarities between the two feature films were too strong for the case to make it to court, with Yves Boisset winning his case after years of lengthy proceedings.
But now Running Man reappears on our screens, this time revisited by the British director Edgar Wright, who at the beginning of his career offered us the irresistible Shaun of the Dead. Contrary to the plot of the 1987 film, Edgar Wright wants to be as faithful to King/Bachman prose as possible, even if that means using outdated technology – videotapes, mailboxes – to fully sublimate a retro-futuristic picture that increasingly marks the social divide in a world that has wiped out the middle class. In the role of a man racing against death, Glen Powell pumps his pants with conviction, confronting the complacent cynicism of the channel’s dazzlingly smiling channel director (Josh Brolin) and star host (Colman Domingo), the gleeful conductor of this carnage game.
As usual, the director deploys the arsenal that has become his trademark: ultra-dynamic editing, virtuosic action sequences, breaks in rhythm and tone, unexpected touches of humor, and even a little pop culture wink that Schwarzy fans will appreciate.
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Answer
We could criticize Wright for trying to impress us, but this visual avalanche reflects the essence of the story: violence transformed into spectacle, circus games revisited in the age of the screen. And ironically, the novel is set in 2025, precisely the year the film was released. The time is right to remind us how King’s visionary fiction has never been closer to our reality.
man running, by Edgar Wirght (2:13). National release November 19.
