Speaker 1: In the dystopian future. Inflation has skyrocketed, and there are
Speaker 1: both jobs and housing crises. Rich folks are consuming every
Speaker 1: bit of wealth they can lay their eyes on, and
Speaker 1: the only hope the common man has is in their
Speaker 1: ability to create engaging content. Am I talking about right
Speaker 1: here and right now in real life? Yes, but I'm
Speaker 1: also talking about The Running Man. I'm Ronald Young Junior,
Speaker 1: and I'm leaving the theater.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: This is Ronald and I am leaving the theater after
Speaker 1: seeing The Running Man. The Running Man written by Michael
Speaker 1: Bacali and Edgar Wright, directed by Edgar Wright, starring Glenn Powell,
Speaker 1: William h Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Sarah, Amelia Jones, Daniel Ezra,
Speaker 1: Jamie Lawson, Sean Hayes, Coleman Domingo, and Josh Brolynn. And
Speaker 1: for complete cast listing, you can go to the link
Speaker 1: in our show notes. It is just me today. Those
Speaker 1: of you who are Patreon members, you will have already
Speaker 1: listened to the On the Couch episode where I reviewed
Speaker 1: The Running Man, which came out I believe in nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty one, eighty two, eighty three, eighty four, eighty seven.
Speaker 2: I think it was nineteen eighty seven.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, if you look in your
Speaker 1: feeds right now, you could probably see if you're not
Speaker 1: a Patreon member, you could probably see a locked episode
Speaker 1: of On the Couch entitled The Running Man nineteen eighty
Speaker 1: something on there with the picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger. It
Speaker 1: is a adaptation of the Stephen King novel from nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty one. So this is a remake of the original film,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure it's also drawing from the source material
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 2: So this is the.
Speaker 1: Second adaptation of the novel, and I'm sure it's drawing
Speaker 1: some inspiration from the nineteen eighty seven or eighty six
Speaker 1: movie as well. So in this one, Glenn Powell is
Speaker 1: not His name is Ben Richards, and he is not
Speaker 1: a police officer or former military member at all. They
Speaker 1: are still in a dystopian future where people are very broke,
Speaker 1: very poor, wages are very low, and the only way
Speaker 1: to get real money is to do these humiliating games
Speaker 1: in front of everyone that are really meant to motivate
Speaker 1: people and make people think they have a chance. And
Speaker 1: Ben Richards has a wife and daughter who is ill.
Speaker 1: The daughter is ill, so he is forced to become
Speaker 1: a part of this capitalistic intention, and of course he
Speaker 1: becomes the titular running man. Watching this film, it is
Speaker 1: at times a very scathing rebuke of capitalism. But I
Speaker 1: also think that it's it's a little bit messy and
Speaker 1: a little bit shaggy, and because it's a big budget film,
Speaker 1: there's stuff that it simply.
Speaker 2: Will not do.
Speaker 1: It will allude to a revolution. It will have people
Speaker 1: who would be considered to be revolutionaries, but they're kind
Speaker 1: of painted with broad strokes in some ways, they're not
Speaker 1: necessarily as nuanced as you would expect them to be.
Speaker 1: There's more than one voice that is talking about the
Speaker 1: resistance against the Network, which is what they're called NCG,
Speaker 1: which is now kind of the governing body of the
Speaker 1: United States. There is a president, and I believe that
Speaker 1: president is intended to be Arnold Schwarzenegger, which is a
Speaker 1: wink and smile to the original film. He is listed
Speaker 1: on the money infliction is out of control. People just
Speaker 1: don't have what they need. So these revolutionaries are pushing
Speaker 1: up against the idea of the Network, and for me,
Speaker 1: those were the more interesting parts of the film. There
Speaker 1: is a you know, Ben Richards is married to a
Speaker 1: black woman. He has a black child, which I have
Speaker 1: some thoughts about, especially in this dystopian future, especially with
Speaker 1: the role of black people in this film. Colman Domingo
Speaker 1: is a showman who's kind of in the host of
Speaker 1: The Running Man, the television show, and Josh Brolin is
Speaker 1: the network executive. Coleman Domingo again is the host. Then
Speaker 1: you know, you have Ben Richards who has a black
Speaker 1: wife and he is then at some point assisted on
Speaker 1: the streets by a family of black folks. And there's
Speaker 1: this role of black people in the film, which is
Speaker 1: I'm I'm curious as to what it is and what
Speaker 1: it means in terms of the future. And again you're
Speaker 1: always going to hear me point this out. When you
Speaker 1: make these casting choices, you have to consider what role
Speaker 1: race plays in the universe that is established by the film,
Speaker 1: but also what that says to a viewer who is
Speaker 1: not living in the universe established by the film, meaning
Speaker 1: that me, a black man watching this is going to
Speaker 1: have opinions about what Coleman Domingo thinks and what is
Speaker 1: survival to him in this world? What is race in
Speaker 1: this world? What does it look like? Who actually has
Speaker 1: the power? If that never comes up as a part
Speaker 1: of the plot. Then you end up with a film
Speaker 1: in which I see black folks doing things, but I'm
Speaker 1: curious as to what they think of themselves and kind
Speaker 1: of the people around them. If you turn this into
Speaker 1: kind of just well, this is rich versus poor, which
Speaker 1: I actually believe that to be true, I still want
Speaker 1: to know if there's any commentary where it's gotten so
Speaker 1: bad that we actually have gone post racial in this society.
Speaker 1: But that's not something that's examined. It's more been Richards
Speaker 1: that is examined. And he has this motivation where he's
Speaker 1: just like, I got to get back to my family.
Speaker 1: I got to get back to my family, which is
Speaker 1: it's fine, but it makes his intentions and his character
Speaker 1: development a little more shallow than I would expect for
Speaker 1: it to be. And the reason why I think that's
Speaker 1: important is because I think if this person is going
Speaker 1: to be a spark that lights a revolutionary fuse, as
Speaker 1: the movie tends to be pushing him to do, then
Speaker 1: I really want more realizations from him about the world
Speaker 1: that he's living in in a way that is, I mean,
Speaker 1: at times felt messy, ham fisted, other times maybe more
Speaker 1: overt especially because Okay, so one of the family, the
Speaker 1: Black family that assists him, one of those characters is
Speaker 1: basically what we would now know as a YouTube conspiracy theorist,
Speaker 1: but he's definitely right about how the show The Running
Speaker 1: Man is ran, what that means for Ben Richards, and
Speaker 1: how the network is going to operate with him.
Speaker 2: So a ways into the movie, we.
Speaker 1: Start to realize that this interaction between the network and
Speaker 1: between Ben is one that is mostly beneficial to the network.
Speaker 1: And the reason why that's important to note is because
Speaker 1: at some point when we start examining that, I thought
Speaker 1: there was an opportunity for the movie to do something
Speaker 1: very very interesting with regards to where we are in
Speaker 1: the real world in twenty twenty five, and it walks
Speaker 1: right up to the line of basically talking about control
Speaker 1: and programming and what it looks like for the government
Speaker 1: to be involved, and what it looks like for folks
Speaker 1: to use what we consider to be entertainment to actually
Speaker 1: control us, and what it looks like to whip a
Speaker 1: bloodthirsty mob who is desperate into a frenzy. And I
Speaker 1: think there was a couple of moments in here where
Speaker 1: people who are also being oppressed by the network might
Speaker 1: have joined together and turned against the network as a unit.
Speaker 1: And there's one or two people in particular who kind
Speaker 1: of work for the network that I feel like at
Speaker 1: some point would say, oh, yeah, well, we should definitely
Speaker 1: stop doing this and work together against the network. But
Speaker 1: that's not what happens. And there's a sense of realism
Speaker 1: to that. And the only way I can attach it
Speaker 1: is to say, I'm looking at ICE officers and not
Speaker 1: totally understanding their motivation Right now, I don't understand why
Speaker 1: you would continue to do this job. It's dangerous for you,
Speaker 1: it is not something that can last forever. And you're
Speaker 1: the bad guy. You are the bad guy, no matter
Speaker 1: what you tell yourself. As history continues to grind forward,
Speaker 1: you will be exposed as the bad guy. But this
Speaker 1: movie is making a more overt claim about these bad
Speaker 1: guys in the film, and for me, unless all of
Speaker 1: their lives are under threat, unless all of their families
Speaker 1: are under the gun, they just can't convince me that
Speaker 1: this is something that they would continue to do. But
Speaker 1: I guess when I think about the fact that ICE
Speaker 1: is continuing to do what it does, maybe the movie
Speaker 1: has some sort of a point. I think that the
Speaker 1: Ben Richards character is Glenn Powell does the best job
Speaker 1: that he can. I really appreciate what the movie is doing,
Speaker 1: and probably the first third of the film. Over the
Speaker 1: course of the rest of the film, my enthusiasm for
Speaker 1: it wane. I think that this has the same issue
Speaker 1: I had with Good Fortune in the ending, which is
Speaker 1: I expected to hear about more collaboration and more community
Speaker 1: towards the end, and there's a hint towards that, But again,
Speaker 1: because the focus is about Ben Richards getting back to
Speaker 1: his wife and child, you end up with this kind
Speaker 1: of very individualistic mission for this white man to do.
Speaker 1: And it's important for me to mention that he's a
Speaker 1: white man because this self actualization and this individualism is
Speaker 1: something that is endorsed by white men. The idea of
Speaker 1: the meritocracy, all of that is endorsed by white men.
Speaker 1: That one man could come and change everything is endorsed
Speaker 1: by white men, but there's never this idea of everyone
Speaker 1: coming together. Again, he meets with these black folks who
Speaker 1: are assisting him, and there's more than one of them,
Speaker 1: and their work together to help him.
Speaker 2: However, at some.
Speaker 1: Point he meets with a white dude who is also
Speaker 1: assisting him, and that white dude is not only working
Speaker 1: on his own. He insists that Ben is the spark
Speaker 1: that can light the flame of the revolution. And I
Speaker 1: just don't think that messaging is one that we need
Speaker 1: to continue hearing in twenty twenty five. I still think
Speaker 1: that filmmakers need to think about community. And the folks
Speaker 1: who were talking about community in here were the black people.
Speaker 1: Or at some point there is a black character that
Speaker 1: is working for the network who turns to the network
Speaker 1: heads and says, Hey, my job's over here because you've
Speaker 1: lost the crowd, so I'll see you later. I guess
Speaker 1: my only point is this movie is attempting to engage
Speaker 1: with some pretty big ideas, but because it is a
Speaker 1: Hollywood film with the budget, it ends up kind of
Speaker 1: nerfing those ideas and not necessarily have courage. I think
Speaker 1: films like this should have courage. I think filmmakers need
Speaker 1: to have courage. I was walking out of the theater
Speaker 1: and Linda Holmes told me the original ending to this film,
Speaker 1: and the original ending to this film is based on
Speaker 1: a novel by Stephen King. I'm sorry, it's not the
Speaker 1: original ending to the film. It's how the book actually ended,
Speaker 1: and when I heard how the book ended, it's very bleak.
Speaker 1: But a blaque ending is not a disqualifying one for
Speaker 1: me personally. So I guess my point here is I
Speaker 1: wanted this movie to do more. The movie itself was fine.
Speaker 1: I think it's shaggy. I think it has pacing issues.
Speaker 1: I don't know if i'd want to watch this again.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say that I had a good time. I
Speaker 1: think there were several times in which I would have
Speaker 1: loved for them the show Ben Richards being more crafty
Speaker 1: or having more agency, but he's kind of just shuffled along.
Speaker 1: I don't think he does anything clever enough to stop
Speaker 1: himself from being killed.
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 1: There are instances in the movie where I think maybe
Speaker 1: he could have he could have been pointing to something clever,
Speaker 1: or he could have done something clever, but really he
Speaker 1: was just assisted by someone else doing something. He really
Speaker 1: is just a cog in the wheel. And if that's
Speaker 1: the intention of Edgar Wright to just say, hey, if
Speaker 1: you watch this movie closely, there are really few decisions
Speaker 1: that Ben Richards makes on his own accord that actually
Speaker 1: get him to his destination. And when I think about that,
Speaker 1: then It makes me say, Okay, if this is done
Speaker 1: with intention, then yeah, this is a way better movie,
Speaker 1: because now this band has been fooled into thinking that
Speaker 1: he can do something on his own, but it turns
Speaker 1: out he's been assisted the whole time. If that's the
Speaker 1: conceit of the movie, then yes, I get it. However,
Speaker 1: if that's not the conceit of the movie, then why
Speaker 1: would I want to watch this again. He's not like
Speaker 1: making homemade bombs and planning him somewhere and blowing up people.
Speaker 1: And he's not rigging a house. Someone else's rigging house.
Speaker 1: He's not rigging a house and killing people. He's kind
Speaker 1: of just moving along. He doesn't have any real Everything
Speaker 1: that he does that's good in this movie is set
Speaker 1: up by somebody else, or offered to him, or given
Speaker 1: to him by somebody else. With all of that being said,
Speaker 1: I think this is a three star movie. I would
Speaker 1: not watch it again, but I'm sure somebody will. It's
Speaker 1: not too long. I think it's just over two hours.
Speaker 1: It probably could have been a little shorter. I didn't
Speaker 1: really enjoy it, but I liked it better than The
Speaker 1: Long Walk and a couple of other things I've seen recently,
Speaker 1: I can't remember what I Bogonia definitely better than Bogonia,
Speaker 1: not better than Predator bad Lands, sorry, Perdator bad Lands.
Speaker 1: Not better than that, but it was all right. I'll
Speaker 1: give it three stars and with that leaving the theater
Speaker 1: is a production of Oh It's Big Ron Studios. I
Speaker 1: mixed this episode and by the time listening to this,
Speaker 1: this one should come out on time. This one should
Speaker 1: come out on Monday if I'm smart, because I'm recording
Speaker 1: this on Monday, and I should be cutting this on
Speaker 1: Wednesday to give myself a break, because I keep putting
Speaker 1: myself in a very tough Sunday situation the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks because I've been traveling, which means last week's
Speaker 1: Bogonia didn't come out till Wednesday, and no two weeks
Speaker 1: ago is Wednesday didn't come out till Wednesday, and then
Speaker 1: last week's Predator Badlins didn't come out until Tuesday. So
Speaker 1: I should be you can see I'm slowly working my
Speaker 1: way back. But it's just me, y'all, and I'm doing
Speaker 1: a very, very I think, good job consistently delivering these
Speaker 1: episodes from week to week. It is an easy job.
Speaker 1: I'm watching a movie and then recording it, but I
Speaker 1: also have to edit it. I also have to think
Speaker 1: about the Patreon offerings. I also have to think about ads.
Speaker 1: Now I'm putting ads in, and for those of you
Speaker 1: that are listening to this on anything else rather than Patreon,
Speaker 1: then you're probably hearing ads. But I still have to
Speaker 1: work out where those go and make sure they're optimized
Speaker 1: and spreaker as I post them. It's a lot of work.
Speaker 1: It's a labor of love, but it's still labor. There
Speaker 1: are offerings in the Patreon. There is the ad free feed,
Speaker 1: there's I don't like that, there's on the Couch, which
Speaker 1: is a video podcast. Now I'm working it out and
Speaker 1: I'm trying to move forward. So if that's important to you,
Speaker 1: and you're like, you know what, let me give Ronald
Speaker 1: five to seven of my hard earned dollars. Actually I
Speaker 1: think the lowest is seven. Let me give Ronald seven
Speaker 1: of my hard earned dollars a month. If that's important
Speaker 1: to you, please give me seven of your harder dollars
Speaker 1: a month, is what I'm saying. You can go to
Speaker 1: patreon dot com, slash even the Theater, or go to
Speaker 1: the link in our show notes, show art from Heather Wilder.
Speaker 1: Theme music by the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder. For more information
Speaker 1: about The Running Man, check out our show notes. You
Speaker 1: can follow me on Instagram Blue Sky, TikTok, Threads or
Speaker 1: letterboxed at Owens Big Ron.
Speaker 2: That's at O H I T S b I g
Speaker 2: R O N.
Speaker 1: You can find out more about this show and other
Speaker 1: od's Big Ron Studio shows by following us on Instagram
Speaker 1: at o its Big Bron Studios. Leaving the theater will
Speaker 1: be back soon.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening.