In 2017, the world economy has collapsed and food, oil, and natural resources are in short supply. The United States is now a totalitarian police state, with regions divided into paramilitary zones. Total obedience is required and communications are routinely censored. The government controls the television network where the most popular show is the The Running Man, a gladiator-like competition airing on Sundays from 8:00-11:00 p.m., where criminals run for their lives while the rest of the country watches. One evening, paramilitary helicopter pilot Ben Richards is sent to investigate a food riot of nearly 1,500 unarmed people in Bakersfield, California. Although Ben’s superiors order him to kill anyone who moves in the riot zone, he refuses to fire on innocent people, so his co-pilot carries out the command. Ben is arrested and jailed in the Wilshire Detention Zone work camp. Eighteen months later, Ben and some of his fellow prisoners escape the camp and head to a shantytown on the outskirts of Los Angeles, California. There, people talk about jamming the television signals and broadcasting the truth to the nation, but they do not know where the satellite uplink is located. Ben is reunited with a former policeman named Mic who is now one of the leaders of the underground resistance. Mic refers to Ben as the “Butcher of Bakersfield,” but Ben replies that he is innocent and his bad reputation is due to “network propaganda.” Ben sneaks into the city hoping his brother, Edward, will help him get out of the country, but when he gets to Edward’s apartment, he finds that Amber Mendez is the new tenant. Amber reports that Edward was taken away one month ago for “re-education.” Meanwhile, at the headquarters of ICS television broadcast network, adoring fans greet Damon Killian, the host of The Running Man television show. Killian’s assistant tells him the show’s ratings have been the same for the past several weeks and might need something to boost its audience. When Killian and his team go over a list of potential prisoners, he sees a video of Ben escaping the labor camp and decides he would be the perfect prisoner to improve the ratings. Meanwhile, Ben ties Amber up while looking for money and a travel card. She brags that she is the musician who wrote the ICS network jingle. Ben arranges to fly to Hawaii and takes Amber with him to the airport as a cover. Once there, she escapes and reports him to the police. Ben dashes across the tarmac, trying to escape, but is captured and taken to Killian’s office. There, Killian invites him to appear on the show, offering complete exoneration if he survives, but Ben declines. Killian then informs him that two of Ben’s friends who escaped the labor camp with him, Harold Weiss and William Laughlin, will be sent into the game instead. Ben reluctantly agrees to participate so his friends will be spared. He is injected with a tracking monitor and various drugs, then rendered unconscious by knockout gas. Meanwhile, Amber is dismayed to see television news stories about Ben’s capture falsely reporting that he shot and killed airport security guards. Realizing Ben is being set up, Amber goes to the ICS building to get the raw footage of the Bakersfield massacre, where Ben was reported to have fired on sixty innocent civilians. When the show starts, Killian’s crew locks Ben into a rocket sled for launching into the game zone through a tunnel. Killian explains to the audience that contestants, known as “runners,” are sent into the 400 square block area destroyed by the great earthquake of 1997. Once inside, runners have three hours to make it through all four game quadrants, but gladiators, known as “stalkers,” will also be there, trying to kill them. Just before Ben is whisked into the game zone, Killian informs the audience that he will be joined by two of his fellow prisoners, Weiss and Laughlin. Angry at Killian’s deceit, Ben promises, “I’ll be back,” to which Killian replies, “Only in a rerun.” Once Ben, Weiss, and Laughlin are in the game zone, Killian has a female audience member pick the first “stalker” to go after them. She chooses Subzero, who operates on an ice hockey rink area and uses exploding hockey pucks and a razor sharp stick capable of cutting steel. Subzero captures Weiss easily and knocks out Laughlin quickly, but Ben pulls down some barbed wire and wraps it around Subzero’s throat, choking him to death. Killian reports this is the first time a stalker has ever died in the game zone. Killian then sends in the stalkers Buzzsaw, who rides a motorcycle and uses a chain saw, and Dynamo, who wears a special suit allowing him to shoot lightning bolts. Killian’s assistant tells him the ratings went up nine points the moment Ben killed Subzero. He also reports that Amber was caught stealing the raw footage of the Bakersfield massacre, so Killian sends Amber into the game. Meanwhile, Weiss realizes that the satellite uplink, which the underground has been searching for, is in the game zone. He finds the control panel and tries to figure out the password. Meanwhile, Buzzsaw wraps a wire around Ben and drags him across the ground with his motorcycle. However, when Buzzsaw tries to kill Ben, he turns the chainsaw around and kills his enemy. Elsewhere, Weiss determines the password is “18, 24, 61, B, 17, 17, 4” and tells Amber to remember the code. Just then, Dynamo appears and kills Weiss with a lightning bolt. Dynamo also tries to kill Amber, but Ben rescues her. As Dynamo chases them, his car wrecks and Ben cuts off Dynamo’s penis with Buzzsaw’s chainsaw. Ben and Amber find Laughlin just moments before he dies of injuries from Buzzsaw. Watching the game from afar, Killian sends in Fireball, who is armed with a flamethrower and a jet pack. However, Killian also communicates with Ben through a special closed-circuit television, offering him a three-year contract as a stalker, guaranteeing him a giant credit line and a condominium. Ben declines and again promises to get even. When Killian asks an audience member to predict which stalker will make the next kill, she replies that Ben will be the next victor. Outside, bookmakers start taking bets on Ben, giving him 100 to one odds. As Fireball arrives in the game zone, Ben throws barrels of oil at him, causing the stalker to catch fire when he ignites his flamethrower. However, that does not stop Fireball, so Ben pulls the fuel cord on his flamethrower and tosses a firecracker at him, killing his enemy in an explosion. With three stalkers dead and one injured, Captain Freedom, a retired stalker who is now a fitness guru, is called into the game zone, but refuses. In response, Killian orders his assistant to impose likenesses of Ben and Captain Freedom on stunt doubles. When television viewers see Captain Freedom’s double ram Ben’s double into metal stakes, they believe Ben is dead. However, Ben and Amber are rescued by Mic and his underground network who have secret headquarters in the fourth quadrant of the game zone. They finally break the network transmission and broadcast the raw footage of the Bakersfield Massacre as well as other incidents that were manipulated by ICS. Ben and Amber go to the ICS headquarters where Dynamo reappears. However, Amber sets off the sprinkler system, electrocuting Dynamo. Meanwhile, Ben confronts Killian, but the game show hosts claims his decision to use Ben was purely to boost television ratings. Ben throws Killian into the rocket sled and launches him into the game zone, where the sled crashes into a billboard and explodes. Free from tyranny, Ben kisses Amber and the two leave together, arm in arm.