Four Glen Powell Netflix movies to if you loved ‘The Running Man’
Glen Powell has this ridiculous habit of taking over your screen even when he is not even trying to. One minute, he is this charming someone in a rom-com, and the next, he is sprinting through explosions. The best part is, somehow, both feel like they were written specifically for him.
And now, with the release of The Running Man, it feels like the right moment to revisit the films that shaped Powell into Netflix’s unofficial adrenaline-and-romance ambassador.
We sometimes wonder about what makes Powell so addictive to watch. And the answer we keep circling back to is that he never commits halfway. Every performance has this electric edge, like he treats each scene as an excuse to raise your heart rate for sport. It does not matter if he is flying jets or chasing storms or wearing the most suspiciously normal office clothes in a rom-com… he still manages to make the screen feel like it is heating up.
So if you loved him in The Running Man and we all collectively lost our breath watching him sprint for survival, here are four Powell films currently on Netflix that deserve your full, undivided attention.
Four Glen Powell Netflix movies to watch
Hit Man (Richard Linklater, 2024)
If there is one Glen Powell movie that feels like a personal challenge (fall for me immediately or else), it is Hit Man. Powell co-wrote it with Richard Linklater, which explains why it fits him like a tailored jacket. He plays Gary Johnson, a mild-mannered professor who accidentally becomes great at pretending to be a contract killer. This part alone is hilarious. But then the disguises start. Imagine wigs, accents, and personas that should not be legal, and all of a sudden, you are watching Powell shapeshift through personalities.
The film becomes even better once Adria Arjona enters the picture. Her chemistry with Powell is instant. She plays a woman trying to escape a dangerous marriage, and Gary, despite being the least intimidating fake assassin alive, tries to help her. Hit Man is Powell at his most entertaining, and the perfect film to watch if you loved him in The Running Man.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mike Newell, 2018)
Glen Powell in this film? I swear, the man shows up for ten seconds, and suddenly, you are emotionally responsible for his well-being. He plays Mark, Juliet’s fiancé, and the way he carries himself immediately tells you he is about to get his heart broken politely. And yes, it hurts, even though you can see it coming from the moment he appears on screen with that composed energy.
Juliet, meanwhile, finds herself pulled into this little book club on the island of Guernsey with letters, secrets, wartime history, and people who actually listen to her. In short, you can feel her London life slipping through her fingers. That is where Powell’s Mark becomes the emotional anchor you did not expect. He is not the dramatic obstacle. He is the calm, dependable man who loves her sincerely, even as she drifts somewhere he cannot follow. And Powell plays that with such warmth that you end up whispering to yourself that he deserved better.
Sand Castle (Fernando Coimbra, 2017)
Watching Glen Powell in Sand Castle feels like accidentally catching feelings for the one competent person in a completely unhinged work environment. The story throws this squad of exhausted soldiers into an Iraqi village to fix a water system nobody believes can actually be fixed, and right when everything looks impossible, Powell walks in as Sergeant Chutsky. He is there to hold the place together while everyone else is one sandstorm away from giving up.
Powell here feels like the person who signs up for the hardest job because someone has to, and Powell gives him this warm, protective edge that sneaks up on you. Suddenly, you are watching a war film while yelling, “Please protect him at all costs”.
Set It Up (Claire Scanlon, 2018)
The thing about Glen Powell in Set It Up is that he does not even try to be irresistible. This man just shows up as Charlie, already stressed, already overworked, already juggling a boss who treats him like a walking calendar, and yet somehow maintaining a charm that only he can pull off. The delicious part is how quickly that stress melts into something fun once he teams up with Harper. Their plan to fix their lives by fixing their bosses’ lives is ridiculous, and Powell leans into it with his effortless charm that makes every scene brighter.
Powell has played Charlie like a man who accidentally signed up for emotional growth while trying to survive office life, and it is honestly adorable. The chemistry with Zoey Deutch feels alive in that spark-you-ca n’t-fake way, and by the time he figures out what everyone else knew ages ago, you are already too invested to pretend you are not cheering for him like a friend making a surprisingly healthy life choice.