The least Edgar Wright-y Edgar Wright film so far takes some time to build up momentum, but THE RUNNING MAN is pretty entertaining when it’s tactile action builds to terminal velocity. In a dystopian, corporate-owned future, poverty-stricken blue collar worker Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is forced to enter The Running Man to provide financial security for his family, evading both armed mercenaries and civilians for up to 30 days. Most of the criticisms of this film can be chalked up to what it’s not rather than what it is. Wright has dialled back his showy editing and cinematography and picked a dark, bleak and brutal story with only the most jaded and cynical sense of humour. The real-world echoes in the latest version of this 40 year old story that should feel cartoonishly exaggerated disturbingly don’t, and so entertainment value in the moment here too often gives way to a feeling of unease that somewhat derails its genre thrills. SSP