With his young daughter in need of some basic medication that he and his wife cannot afford, “Richards” (Glen Powell) sets off to enrol in the most taxing of television game shows. If he can stay alive for thirty days, he will win a gazillion new dollars and be able to live, with his family, like a king. Of course, he learns fairly quickly that this will never be a fair fight as the show’s boss “Killian” (Josh Brolin) makes quite clear. This is going to be brutal stuff, with the population actively encouraged to report his whereabouts for a cash bonus, so the goons or the “hunters” can come and waste him. Now he isn’t exactly your average ye-ha ninja type. He’s more your decent, gym going, family man - so what chance he can adapt and survive in the face of betrayal and bullets? It starts off quite promisingly, and as usual Powell is fully aware that much of his appeal on screen is down to his willingness to wear (nor not) a skimpy towel, but once we get into the adventure proper this all reminded me too too much of a “Hunger Games” production - complete with remote television cameras and exuberant live television coverage from “Bobby T” (Colman Domingo). There’s a blink and you’ll miss it cameo from William H. Macy which could have been delivered by just about anyone and if you’re especially eagle-eyed you might spot Sandra Dickinson here as she and Michael Cera attempt to provide our runaway with some much needed moral support. “Richards” accrues cash for each kill and for each day he survives, and that also reflects the level-up, video-game, style of these adventures with each getting more lucratively perilous and him becoming more like John Wick as the days go by. The sense of menace? Well that doesn’t really survive an increasingly relentless sequence of predictable CGI-driven pyrotechnics and it just possible that Powell isn’t the best casting here. He’s easy on the eye and charismatic, but he isn’t convincing at any stage as things heat up and neither are Brolin or Domingo who just overact. It could readily lose half an hour without compromising the gist of the original Stephen King story and I just couldn’t help thinking it was released too close to “The Long Walk” which is similar in concept and better in delivery. It’s watchable enough, but I’m not sure I will remember it any more than Arnie’s more static, studio-based, version from 1987.
