Confessions of a Not-So-Dangerous Mind*
Sep 16, 2026 · 19 min · 8 segments
Finally saw Edgar Wright's 2025 "more faithful adaptation" of Stephen King's dystopian sci-fi novel The Running Man. How does it compare to the 1987 version starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which I…
Allegedly, the direct adaptation of Stephen King's late 1970s, written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, dystopian science fiction classic, The Running Man.
And I got to tell you, as much as Stephen King, who was one of the great writers, the greatest living authors, even people who can't stand him would probably agree with that, the just sheer volume of quality in his, in his Hume is just insane.
But Stephen King liked the 2025 Edgar Wright-helmed, Glenn Powell, Josh Brolin, Coleman Domingo starring The Running Man.
It is inert, and with the budget and with the talent involved, I just don't understand how they didn't make a better movie.
The only explanation is that Stephen King's source material was not really a movie.
And I don't really think that it's a matter of Glenn Powell not having Arnold Schwarzenegger's charisma.
And this film has all of the kind of current data at its disposal and doesn't really do anything with it.
There's nothing wrong with Glenn Powell's performance, but the movie never really takes off.
The stakes don't feel as high, even though it's the same thing as you're going to die, your family, your kids, whatever.
And somehow the sort of almost campy elements of the original and must be said Richard Dawson's sensational performance as Killian so in King's original book and this is represented in the movie because if you were only familiar with the Arnold film and let's just say saw the preview for the Glenn Powell version you would say well I don't really understand how there are all of these characters So in the 1987 movie directed by terrific Paul Michael Glazer and starring Arnold and Richard Dawson among others, the character of Damon Killian is the showrunner and the host of the show.
In Stephen King's iteration and what's presented in the 2025 movie, Coleman Domingo plays the host of the show and Josh Brolin plays the showrunner and kind of the point man at the network.
And I understand trying to cast the best people, but there wasn't any reason to make that into two characters for the movie unless your only goal was fidelity to Stephen King's book.
Allegedly, the direct adaptation of Stephen King's late 1970s, written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, dystopian science fiction classic, The Running Man.
And I got to tell you, as much as Stephen King, who was one of the great writers, the greatest living authors, even people who can't stand him would probably agree with that, the just sheer volume of quality in his, in his Hume is just insane.
But Stephen King liked the 2025 Edgar Wright-helmed, Glenn Powell, Josh Brolin, Coleman Domingo starring The Running Man.
It is inert, and with the budget and with the talent involved, I just don't understand how they didn't make a better movie.
The only explanation is that Stephen King's source material was not really a movie.
And I don't really think that it's a matter of Glenn Powell not having Arnold Schwarzenegger's charisma.
And this film has all of the kind of current data at its disposal and doesn't really do anything with it.
There's nothing wrong with Glenn Powell's performance, but the movie never really takes off.
The stakes don't feel as high, even though it's the same thing as you're going to die, your family, your kids, whatever.
And somehow the sort of almost campy elements of the original and must be said Richard Dawson's sensational performance as Killian so in King's original book and this is represented in the movie because if you were only familiar with the Arnold film and let's just say saw the preview for the Glenn Powell version you would say well I don't really understand how there are all of these characters So in the 1987 movie directed by terrific Paul Michael Glazer and starring Arnold and Richard Dawson among others, the character of Damon Killian is the showrunner and the host of the show.
In Stephen King's iteration and what's presented in the 2025 movie, Coleman Domingo plays the host of the show and Josh Brolin plays the showrunner and kind of the point man at the network.
And I understand trying to cast the best people, but there wasn't any reason to make that into two characters for the movie unless your only goal was fidelity to Stephen King's book.
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