Say Goodbye to Anya Taylor-Joy's Most Stylish 75% RT Thriller Next Month

Edgar Wright is finally returning to the big screen this year with his take on The Running Man, starring Top Gun: Maverick favorite Glen Powell. An adaptation of Stephen King‘s 1982 dystopian thriller story, the film has been long in the making for the Hot Fuzz and the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World director, aiming to give a more accurate depiction of the original novel than the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick. However, while Wright’s latest feature is preparing to sprint into theaters, his last effort will be fleeing streaming soon. On October 1, the psychological horror thriller Last Night in Soho will be departing Peacock, leaving only a few short weeks for subscribers to catch up before The Running Man‘s arrival on November 14.

Released in 2021, Last Night in Soho was one of two features Wright delivered that year, alongside the much-lauded documentary The Sparks Brothers. In a change of pace for the director after his stylish 2017 actioner Baby Driver, it was a more ambitious, genre-bending affair, blending elements of horror and psychological thrillers with a time-traveling mystery split between modern London and its glittery past. At the center is aspiring fashion designer Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie), who moves to the city to realize her dreams. Once there, however, she finds herself able to travel back to the 1960s, encountering a dazzling wannabe singer named Sadie (Anya Taylor-Joy), with whom she becomes enamored. In time, though, she realizes that the glamour of her life isn’t as it seems, and the dreams of the past begin to haunt her.

Joining McKenzie and Taylor-Joy are House of the Dragon star Matt Smith, alongside Terence Stamp and Diana Rigg in their final film roles. Thanks to an ending that missed the mark in the eyes of many viewers, Last Night in Soho isn’t quite as beloved as some of Wright’s other work, but it still earned a lot of praise. It holds a Certified Fresh 75% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a Verified Hot 89% with audiences, with a lot of praise for the performance of the two leads and the visual style the director brought to the table.

What Is ‘The Running Man’ About?

The Running Man brings Wright back to the action genre, albeit with a darker, grittier tone befitting King’s story. It features Powell as working-class hero Ben Richards in a near-future society where the public is enamored by a violent game show where contestants must survive 30 days of being hunted by professional assassins to win a life-changing cash reward. When his daughter falls ill, he’s convinced by the show’s slick and sinister producer to participate, where his tenacity and instincts in the face of death make him a crowd favorite and a real threat to the entire system. Wright had a star-studded cast to work with, including Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Emilia Jones, and Michael Cera, among others. He told Collider for our exclusive preview series, however, that Powell’s addition was instrumental in capturing that everyman heart.

“Part of the fun for me was casting someone like Glen just before they’ve made the leap to full-on action icon. I kept thinking about who Bruce Willis was before Die Hard, he was only known to audiences as the romantic lead in Moonlighting. Glen is such a relatable, charming actor, and it’s fun to put him through the mill and see him spend the movie literally on the run. The whole film is more exciting with Glen being your everyman at the heart of the action. You see him sweat, you see him think, you keep him on his back foot for the whole adventure. I’m so thrilled with Glen’s performance in the lead. The Ben Richards in Stephen King’s novel is an everyman; he’s tough because he’s worked some of the worst jobs in the world, but he’s not a trained killer or superhero. He’s an out of work father, who out of desperation to get medicine for his daughter, risks everything on the deadliest game show of all time.”

Before The Running Man hits theaters, catch Last Night in Soho on Peacock before it leaves on October 1. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the biggest films coming to and leaving streaming throughout the year.