Before the mystique of Paul McCartney is uncovered in the upcoming biopics, with Paul Mescal playing the former Beatles star, Prime Video's new documentary, Man on the Run, is here to tell the true story of Macca's second band, Wings.
If nothing else, Man on the Run serves as a visual aid for the recently released oral history, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, released in November 2025.
For those who have read the book, Man on the Run may seem redundant. Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run is a page-turner, and a lot of the words (which were mostly taken from transcripts of interviews) sound familiar.
What makes it worth watching is the archival footage. Plus, McCartney speaking about the events adds a new layer than just reading the words on a page, especially talking about his late wife, Linda.
Man on the Run doesn't attempt to uncover anything juicy that hasn't been said before. Perhaps it's a little too light on its feet, but it's still a worthy watch for any fans of McCartney and Wings.
Paul McCartney: Man on the Run review
At this point in his career, McCartney is revered as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. However, it's easy to forget that this wasn't always the case.
He was largely blamed for the Beatles' break-up. His first two solo albums, McCartney and Ram, have only become classics with the power of years of hindsight.
Due to its brevity and that it had to be selective in how much ground it could cover on each topic, Man on the Run seems like McCartney's way of somewhat clearing his name of the Beatles' break-up allegations.
It's a tight line to toe, given that half of the Beatles are dead. Luckily, McCartney spreads nothing but love the late John Lennon's way, and Lennon's son, Sean Ono Lennon, serves as a third party in the divide.
McCartney won't live forever, despite his on-stage presence still resembling a man a quarter of his age, and he's looking back fondly on his work post-Beatles.
He's obviously very involved in the documentary, but it appears to be as fair as possible. Perhaps the greatest reflection he does, outside of anything with Lennon, is about his arrest in Japan, which effectively signaled the end of Wings.
At the time, he received a lot of scrutiny. The late Denny Laine also explains the band's dissolution after this incident. It helps put any concerns of drama to rest.
The remastered footage
The archival footage itself is not as clean as some of the recent Beatles documentaries. Still, there's always an appetite to see footage of old performances when McCartney was at the height of his powers.
His voice has always been one of his strong suits, dating back to the Beatles' early days with songs like “Long Tall Sally” and “I Saw Her Standing There.” However, Wings was when his voice fully came of age. The bits of him singing “Jet” or “Silly Love Songs” in Man on the Run prove that.
It's also surprising to see how much footage exists of smaller moments. Man on the Run isn't shy about showing McCartney with his family in the '70s. It's probably a blessing to his family as well to have footage like this out there.
Something Man on the Run has in common with The Beatles: Get Back is showing McCartney's mastery as a musician. In Get Back, one of the most notable moments of the eight-hour docuseries is when he created “Get Back” out of thin air while playing around on his bass.
Man on the Run shows in-studio takes and demos of some songs. While more of this footage would have been welcomed, the bits we get are still satisfying. And then seeing the songs come alive from the studio to the stage (as they show with “Silly Love Songs”) is the cherry on top.
Where it could have been better
There's always room for improvement. McCartney worked for years to get in the good graces of fans. Man on the Run is very selective in what it shows.
Again, the documentary follows the same story as Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run. Naturally, the oral history is able to delve deeper into each project, and a 115-minute documentary has limits.
Still, there's a heavy emphasis at first on the Beatles' break-up and McCartney's first two solo albums. Yes, they are crucial to the formation of Wings, but this almost makes the argument that two documentaries could have come from this.
Perhaps the solution would have been a documentary about McCartney's solitude and the first couple of post-Beatles albums, and then another about Wings that really got into the nitty-gritty.
The documentary is light on these Wings albums
There are a lot of blanks left that the book will fill, especially in the latter half of Wings' run. Man on the Run is very light on Venus and Mars, Wings at the Speed of Sound, London Town, and Back to the Egg. Even the heavily bootlegged One Hand Clapping (which was recently uncovered and released by McCartney) is only mentioned in passing.
It's true that none of the last four albums of Wings' career were as notable as Band on the Run, but that makes them even more interesting to chronicle.
The story of Band on the Run has been told before, and there's not a lot new in this iteration besides the story of Paul and Linda McCartney being mugged while recording the album in Africa. Even then, the biggest thing working in its favor is Morgan Neville visualizing the story using photos and other means.
It's a tactic he uses throughout Man on the Run, presumably when there wasn't archival footage. This was smart, as it brings the stories to life rather than showing a talking head.
Should you stream Paul McCartney: Man on the Run on Prime Video?
Even though Man on the Run isn't groundbreaking, it's a good watch for all the McCartney fans out there. Above all else, it is a companion piece to Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run.
This is a blessing and a curse. For readers of the oral history, a lot of it will sound familiar. That's because a lot of the interviews were presumably used for the book as well. For readers, the documentary serves as a glorified abridged visual aid.
Neville has an ear for music, letting McCartney and Wings' music transition viewers from each segment. Aside from concert films, Wings' music has never been better represented in a movie or TV show. And that's what is most important — the music.
McCartney has always wanted to write “Silly Love Songs.” Some, like “Maybe I'm Amazed,” are incredibly dense, while others, like “My Valentine,” are less so. Man on the Run is the documentary equivalent of “My Valentine.” It's not nearly as deep as it could be, but it's fun enough to watch.
Grade: B
Man on the Run is playing in select theaters and will be available to stream on Prime Video on Feb. 27.
