Edgar Wright is back in the limelight with his newest action thriller/comedy, The Running Man, starring Glen Powell. This remake of the 1987 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is an adaptation of Richard Bachman’s novel (Stephen King‘s writing pseudonym). The reviews have been mixed so far, but no one can deny that The Running Man is an Edgar Wright movie, for better or for worse.
The Running Man may be the least famous film in Wright’s filmography, though. He’s known for directing several modern cult classics, each of them exciting in its own way. Since The Running Man promises to be among his most divisive efforts so far, we could see how it compares to the other films of Wright’s future films. Here’s every Edgar Wright movie, ranked by how thrilling they are.
8
‘A Fistful of Fingers’ (1995)
Wright’s first-ever feature film is calledA Fistful of Fingers, and it’s an ultra-low-budget Spaghetti Western parody; it’s not the greatest in terms of excitement or thrills, but it’s still an indication of Wright’s signature style. A Fistful of Fingers is full of silly visual gags, knowingly cheap effects, and absurd humor. Critics said it’s a movie that likes and respects the genre but still entertains Wright’s peers, combining the seriousness and tropes of Spaghetti Westerns with the silliness of Monty Python and Mel Brooks.
A Fistful of Fingers follows a cowboy known as No-Name (Graham Low). No-Name embarks on a trek across the Old West to find The Squint (Oli van der Vijver), a wanted man who tricked No-Name’s horse into its death. No-Name, angry and motivated, chases after The Squint throughout the film. The movie is charming and playful, but it’s not suspenseful or action-heavy; it’s much more of a fantastic directorial debut with loads of potential.
7
‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’ (2010)
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is one of Wright’s most prominent works. Many consider this video game adaptation to be among the best, but in terms of excitement and action, Scott Pilgrim is somewhat tame. The star-studded cast engages in sharp, witty, and playful dialogue, with great running jokes and visual gags. Scott Pilgrim is visually explosive and energetic, boasting Wright’s signature editing style, but the stakes are more emotional than genuinely tense or dangerous.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is about Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), a 25-year-old bass player from Canada, who meets a mysterious and beautiful Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Scott falls head over heels with Ramona, but if he wants to date her, he has to defeat The League of Evil Exes, which consists of Ramona’s seven exes. It’s pretty much a romance film, and the movie’s characters and concepts are very much video game-like; there’s joke after joke, which sometimes even go over people’s heads, but while the movie is exciting in the sense of being visually stimulating and perfectly paced, the thrills are low, and there’s only a great time.
6
‘The World’s End’ (2013)
The World’s End is the third film in the Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy, which Wright created with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The trilogy ends with this sci-fi/action mix that serves as an homage to numerous sci-fi horror classics, from Invasion of the Body Snatchers to The Thing and The Stepford Wives. The World’s End has quite a lot of action, but it builds up gradually and appears mostly towards the end;The movie is more about existential themes, friendship, and second chances, but those themes are dispersed throughout the movie and between some interesting sci-fi combat and escape sequences.
The World’s End follows a group of five friends in their 40s who decide to go on a pub crawl in their hometown after they failed to complete one when they tried it in their teens. All five now lead different lives and are different people, but the ringleader, Gary (Pegg), is the one who insists on their finishing the pub crawl. Seeming like he has something to prove, the movie becomes about Gary trying to solve his existential crisis until it quickly turns into an alien invasion-style film, taking a nearly 180-degree turn. The World’s End is wholesome, emotional, and very fun.
5
‘Last Night in Soho’ (2021)
Matt Smith,
and Anya Taylor Joy
in Last Night in Soho
Last Night in Soho is Wright’s most underrated film. It wasn’t as widely accepted as some of his older efforts,
but it’s an interesting venture into horror. It’s probably Wright’s most serious feature film,
and it leans into a range of intriguing and genuinely frightening horror tropes,
from sudden jump scares to scenes intensified with great sound design.
It’s a period film about the price of fame and popularity,
often delving into the dark territory of revenge and misogyny.
Last Night in Soho follows Eloise ( Thomasin McKenzie), who is obsessed with
the Swinging Sixties
and moves to London to study fashion.
She rents a room in the attic of an old woman’s house
and starts having vivid dreams about a gorgeous blonde from
the 1960s called Sandie ( Anya Taylor-Joy).
Soon,
her dreams start blending with reality,
and Eloise becomes confused about her identity
and obsessed with saving Sandie from
the fate she seems to be heading into.
The movie vibes like a neo-noir thriller
and shifts into psychologically intense moments.
It’s visually gorgeous,
the costumes are fabulous,
and Wright boasts his signature musical knowledge,
but it may not be the purest Wright film for fans of his usual work.
Still,
it’s quite exciting.
4
‘Shaun of the Dead’ (2004)
Shaun of the Dead is
the first film in
the Cornetto Trilogy with Simon Pegg
and Nick Frost,
and it is a cult classic by now.
Wright and Pegg’s love of horror seeps into
the DNA of Shaun of the Dead,
and they created a
stunning and often quite intense homage to George A.
Romero’s
Night of the Living Dead,
including other zombie movie pioneers.
Although it’s genuinely funny
and maintains its comedic flair throughout,
Shaun of the Dead
has some pretty intense fights
and pursuit scenes,
depicting escalating danger
and elevated emotional states.
The final moments are also pretty claustrophobic,
so if you’re not a fan
of close quarters fights,
these battles with the undead will certainly stress you out.
Shaun of the Dead
follows the titular character Shaun (Pegg),
a shop manager living with two roommates
and best friends,
and spends most of his free time with his girlfriend Liz
or at the Winchester pub.
Liz wants him to be more ambitious
and to take their relationship seriously,
but Shaun doesn’t see a problem with their dynamic.
When a zombie virus outbreak hits,
Shaun is forced to face himself,
his insecurities,
capabilities,
and fears,
turning into the man with potential everyone around him sees.
In a way,
Shaun of the Dead
is a coming-of-age story,
if a nearly thirty-year-old man’s transformation can count as coming-of-age.
3
‘The Running Man’ (2025)
…
Image via Paramount Pictures…
Reviews for The Running Man
are mixed;
while exciting and thrilling,
it doesn’t have some of Wright’s signature editing or sound design,
leading to
a much slower pace that’s unusual for the director.
It may not be such a bad thing though;
as somebody who understands cinema
and is a fan of many genres,
Wright understood the assignment
and created a
Running Man
that is both an homage to
the film he loved when he was younger
and a rendition and vision of his own.
Stephen King,
who notoriously disliked
the1987 film,
gave Wright’s
Running Man
high praise,
calling it “ Die Hard
for our time.”
The Running Man
is set in a dystopian future
and follows Ben Richards (Glen Powell),
a blue-collar worker whose infant daughter is sick,
but he can’t afford the medicine she needs.
He realizes that
the best way to get her meds
is to try out for a month-long televised death game,
in which he has to escape professional killers
and survive to win money.
The Running Man
is all about
constant pursuit,
high physical stakes,
engineered obstacles,
and media manipulation.
Powell is pretty great as
the lead:
his star quality goes
a long way
to making
the notoriously angry
and stoic Ben
a lot more personable,
and his exceptional physical agility fits
Wright’s filming style.
The Running Man
is non-stop tension
with emotional stakes,
and another film that may not be fully for fans
of Wright’s canon,
but a film for blockbuster action fans,
undoubtedly.
2
‘Hot Fuzz’ (2007)
Hot Fuzz is
the second movie
in
the Cornetto trilogy
(some might say
the best;
I’m just saying)
is Hot Fuzz.
If Shaun of the Dead
is an homage
to zombie horror
and The World’s End
is an homage
to sci-fi,
Hot Fuzz
is an homage
to action movies,
spy thrillers,
and police procedurals.
Hot Fuzz
follows London police sergeant Nicholas Angel (Pegg),
an overachiever who is exceptional at his job.
Because he does it so well,
his department decided to transfer him to Sandford,
a village near London.
This community is tight-knit,
but Nicholas’ arrival definitely shakes them up.
As they prepare for
the annual Village of the Year contest,
a string of bizarre
and gruesome accidents starts happening,
and it’s up to Nicholas
and his new partner Danny Butterman (Frost)
to solve them.
Hot Fuzz has everything you need
in a classic Wright action flick:
car chases,
fistfights,
shootouts,
standoffs,
and his signature fast-paced editing that amplifies
the intensityof events
and makes everything more fun.
1
‘Baby Driver’ (2017)
Baby Driver
<p When it comes to Wright's most exciting films, Baby Driver
<p When it comes to Wright's most exciting films, Baby Driver
