The Running Man 4K 2025

I didn't really understand the essence of the complaints about this film. According to some, “the film follows the letter of the book, but not its spirit.” Others criticize the film for not following the book literally. Still others criticize the film for portraying America as “too totalitarian.” Be gentle, totalitarianism can be affectionate, like a gay man on a break. A fourth group is unhappy with the ending, calling it “smeared.” How is it “smeared”? Anyway, I decided to watch this movie and was pleasantly surprised, although I did have some questions.

Why is the genre listed as ‘science fiction’? It was like watching the news. What's so fantastic about it? ‘Free competition’ has led to the dominance of large corporations? The head of one of them looms behind the White House owner and receives bonuses exceeding the incomes of all American teachers, giving a Nazi salute with joy. Science fiction!

Total domination of the masses' consciousness by media corporations? Science fiction! There's nothing like that! You're all lying! Ah, the filmmakers pointed to television as the main source of evil. What a blatant lie! Everyone knows that the main supplier of opium to the people is... drum roll... television! 89% of viewers worldwide watch it daily. No social network comes close.

People's devotion to new gladiatorial combat. Fantastic. Juvenal's “bread and circuses” is still relevant today. All these boxers and MMA fighters, earning themselves Parkinson's and dementia, showering each other with blows to the enthusiastic roar of the crowd, and getting the opportunity to shake in early dementia (remember Muhammad Ali).

High-tech total surveillance, widespread use of drones, social stratification, atomization, mutual hatred—what's so fantastic about that? We live in a dystopia come true. The film reflects the realities of today.

It is shot very dynamically. The viewer is grabbed by the scruff of the neck and dragged along, bumping their head on everything in their path. Sit and watch! The hero sees himself on the screen in real time. You are inside the show. Recursion, you understand.

The show's owner, the host, the audience—they all made me so angry that I couldn't eat for five minutes. Wonderful scumbags, they are.

It's shot very inventively. All these flights through cozy sewer pipes, riding in the trunk, Michael Cera's house from Home Alone, stuffed with surprises. By the way, the role of Ser's mother was played by... the current president of the United States? Is that him? It is him. It's his face, his smile, his cries full of humanistic pathos - “I want him killed!”. Bring the Nobel Peace Prize to the studio!

Yes, the main character is a typical father, Fyodor. He obsessively approaches every passerby with the words, “Not for profit, but only by the will of my wife who sent me!” The hero's face is constantly contorted with a grimace of pain—either flatulence is overcoming the selfless fighter for money, or he is following the command “show me your teeth.” Yes, he has as much charm as a cast-iron iron, but here an actor was needed who could emphasize the absurdity of the situation with a single raise of an eyebrow.

This film is more honest than the creation of PTA, who hid his sweaty figure in his pocket and blamed the mythical leftists and racists for what was happening. Edgar Wright confuses cause and effect—corporate dominance is not the cause of the disease, but its symptom. But at least Wright tries to dispel this gloom, while PTA clouds it even more.