The Running Man review: Desperate optimism fuels the action-packed contest
‘The Running Man’ distracts a disgruntled population with lethal game shows, but they may finally get the hero they deserve.
‘The Running Man’ distracts a disgruntled population with lethal game shows, but they may finally get the hero they deserve.
Sequels and reboots are often confused because they share some characteristics. The former is usually a follow-up to its predecessor, expanding on the original story and often featuring returning cast members. The latter takes the original concept and attempts to build a new story around it with a new cast. The Terminator franchise is rare in that it includes a fair number of both types of pictures. But the general consensus is that the last good movie was the first sequel, Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Taking that into account, creators have returned to the series’ roots with Terminator: Dark Fate.
While some zombie movies deliver commentary about the state of society, others simply set out to entertain audiences with tales of the undead. Typically, the one thing both of these kinds of films have in common is their emphasis of the gory aspects of an outbreak. Lifting elements from action movies, these horror pictures incorporate chases, swarms and battles that pit the protagonists against a relentless enemy with few weaknesses. The caveat is most of these films don’t seem realistic. Maggie takes a different approach to a zombie-like virus that gives it a sense of authenticity not often achieved in the subgenre.