Everything 'The Running Man' does wrong

"If you're my age and you like watching stuff blow up real good, you know the definitive Arnold Schwarzenegger movie canon. That canon includes a handful of now-established science-fiction masterpieces ("The Terminator," "Terminator 2," "Total Recall"), but it also accommodates for the small handful of low-fidelity masterpieces that became unforgettable thanks to Arnold's sheer force of personality. Arnold made two such films in the year 1987 alone."

"The first was "Predator." The second was "The Running Man," an adaptation of a Richard Bachman (née Stephen King) novel. The "Predator" franchise has thrived in the intervening years, spawning a total of nine film installments(!!!), the last of which just dominated last weekend's box office tally. But unlike "Predator," "The Running Man," one of our greatest dad movies, remained an intellectual property teat that had gone un-milked."

"You might be vaguely aware that a remake of "The Running Man" is coming out in theaters this week. Since I am a member of the Arnold generation, I took immediate offense to the mere IDEA of papering over the 1987 original, and all of its 1987 charms, with some boilerplate 21st century retread. Yup, I'm a big ol' baby, just like the rest of my fellow Gen Xers."

"But given that Hollywood will remake anything, even s-t that it's already remade; given that I, a father of three, relish any chance I can get to hit up the movies by myself; and given that these celluloid grave robberies are sometimes actually quite good, I decided to take in a screening of this 2025 "Running Man." I also watched the original immediately afterward, because I hadn't watched it myself in well over 20 years."

Arnold Schwarzenegger's film canon mixes high-end science-fiction like The Terminator, Terminator 2, and Total Recall with lower-fidelity cult hits such as Predator and The Running Man. Predator evolved into a nine-installment franchise, while The Running Man remained unused as an intellectual property until a 2025 remake. A Gen X viewer reacted defensively to the remake idea but nevertheless attended a screening, then rewatched the 1987 Arnold original. The 1987 film is framed as a dad movie and an adaptation of Richard Bachman (Stephen King). The viewing aims to judge whether the original still holds up against the new version.

Read at SFGATE