CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is desperate. He’s out of options after being fired from several jobs due to his anger issues. His 2-year-old daughter is sick with the flu and he can’t afford the medicine. And he and his wife are reduced to living solely on her salary as a hostess of a gentlemen’s club.

Underpinning their misery is that they live in a slum called Co-Op City, thanks to income inequality.

The TV in their meager apartment plays constantly, showing nothing but do-or-die game shows. That’s because any other form of entertainment has been outlawed. One show in particular catches Glen’s attention. It’s a test of endurance, much like the actual TV show “American Gladiators.” Glen figures it’s the only way he can earn enough to help his family escape their grinding poverty.

At the same time, he promises his wife he won’t go near “Running Man,” because they both know no one has yet survived the 30-day trial that promises a cash prize of a billion dollars to the winner and certain death to the losers.

On his way to an audition, Richards fights with the network’s security guards and draws the attention of “Running Man” producer Killian, oozing false sincerity and played by Josh Brolin. Of course, Killian sees Richards with his telegenic good looks and kick-ass athleticism as perhaps the first winner of his number one show. A ratings driver for sure.

The original story is one of Stephen King’s earliest efforts, when he was writing under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. In the late 80s, it was made into a film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. That movie, with Schwarzenegger’s typically wooden performance, hasn’t aged well.

This version, with Powell as the lead, hews more closely to King’s novel and is the better for it.

Director Edgar Wright is no stranger to action movies and keeps turning up the mayhem, although Powell isn’t always the coiled spring the story needs. We’ve seen him before as nice guys in hits like “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Hit Man,” so the angry Powell can sometimes feel forced.

That said, he has no trouble with the action sequences and in service to Powell’s female fans, Wright has him in situations where clothing is optional. And kudos to Powell’s trainer.

The goal, of course, is survival. In each episode of the show, three contestants are given a head start against a team of assassins. And each night, they are required to tape a message and drop it in a drone-powered receptacle. (On a side note, it wasn’t always clear to me how Richards kept up with that aspect of the assignment or the source of the tapes.)

Eventually, the three runners are eliminated one-by-one, and often in gruesome fashion, until it’s just Richards. And he’s such a folk hero, some viewers choose helping him over reaping a reward for his eventual capture.

As the story reaches critical mass, and with the bodies of his would-be captors piling up, Richards is indeed fulfilling his destiny as the one man who might win “Running Man.” But he turns the tables on Killian and vows revenge. Is it mere vanity at play or does he succeed? As they say in TV, stay tuned.