First Reviews for New ‘The Running Man’ Are in — and They’re Stunning
The Glen Powell-led action-packed adaptation previously received praise from Stephen King who called the movie “exciting”.
This year has definitely been the era of some of Stephen King’s best adaptations ever, but one more is yet to come to the big screens.
Directed by Edgar Wright, The Running Man starring Anyone But You’s actor Glen Powell has been long teased by the director himself as a new version which stick much more to King’s original novel than the 1987 film with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
While there’s only one week left until The Running Man reaches theatres across the US, the first reviews for the movie started pouring in recently — including one very exciting comment from Stephen King himself.
Critics Call Edgar Wright’s ‘The Running Man’ “Instant Classic” Among Stephen King Adaptations
With the movie now aiming to beat The Long Walk as the best King adaptation this year, The Running Man’s first screenings were held ahead of the wider release on November 14, promising Glen Powell’s action thriller a solid score on Rotten Tomatoes in the future.
“THE RUNNING MAN was everything I wanted it to be and so much more. Action packed, emotional, and a star vehicle for Glen Powell. Edgar Wright really bottled magic with Stephen King's novel and this is going to be an instant classic! It just fucking rules, man!!!” The Mary Sue’s writer Rachel Leishman revealed in a post on X.
Apart from Powell’s powerhouse, critics also highlighted that Wright in fact wasn’t lying about his film being different from “The Running Man”’s previous version.
“Running Man features Glen Powell in a performance that only continues to prove what the actor is capable of. Edgar Wright takes a slightly different approach taking on an action film that is vastly different from Arnold’s turn”, JoBlo.com shared.
Stephen King Loves His “The Running Man” New Version
While Schwarzenegger’s movie did just fine with the author who, however, wasn’t that excited about all the changes 1987’s The Running Man had to make his plot go through, King’s reaction to Edgar Wright’s vision of the story was much more different.
In an interview with Variety, the director revealed he’d reached out to the writer not long before the start of the first screenings to ask whether he could tell the viewers King had liked the movie.
“Like it? I love it! It’s faithful enough to the book to keep the fans happy, but different enough to make it exciting for me”, King emailed back, according to Wright.
The Running Man is being released in theatres worldwide on November 14.
