Dawson did an excellent job.
So good, I am not really sure he was acting.
Anyway, you have to admit it, he was well cast and directed too.
Credit the script writers too, there was plenty of Damon Killian in the script, which definitely allowed him to steal the show.
I still like Total Recall better, but I am a sucker for true Science Fiction, of course I like Dystopian movies like Running Man too.

Schwarzenegger faced down two very different foes in his 1987 action adventures
Predator
It sees the heat of their bodies. It smells their fears. It hunts for sport. It kills for pleasure. In a place without rules - the hunter has become the hunted. Deep inside the jungles of Latin America, Schwarzenegger's team of elite commandos are being slaughtered by a mysterious predator. No longer are they hunters - they are the prey of an alien whose only instinct is to kill. One by one it strikes with inhuman ferocity. Now to survive, with the jungle as their only ally, they face their greatest challenge: to stay alive.
The Running Man
Richard Dawson

Very very true!