Aneesh Chaganty's "Run" is a contained thriller you don't want to miss
“Run” Film Review
80/100 “sweet”
By Quinn Marcus
Contained thrillers are so much fun, you stare at a character locked inside a house most likely by a psychopath, but besides that, they’re pretty good. I recently watched Misery, you remember, that old film with James Caan and Kathy Bates. I walked in with the expectation of a horror film, and because of that expectation, I didn’t love it. The first half’s tone was all over the place, and there were pretty ridiculous scenes, but some fabulous moments as well. However, the one thing that movies from this genre have in common isn’t the creepy middle-aged women with a pet pig named “Misery,” it’s the tension. You can’t walk into one of these movies with a giddy smile on your face anticipating a creepy clown to jump out at you every now and then. If you’ve seen Aneesh Chaganty’s first film: Searching, that’s pretty much as contained a thriller as you can get, the entire film is literally the main character’s laptop! Run is a little more of a traditional thriller, but that doesn’t affect it whatsoever.
We open our glorious endeavor with a single mom named Diane Sherman (Sarah Paulson), who’s newborn child isn’t doing so well, but the child somehow survives…"somehow.” Chloe Sherman (Kiera Allen), now 17 years old, a track star and entrepreneur…oh wait, she’s disabled, and has practically every terrible health condition ever, ah don’t you love depressing openings like that. Chloe is homeschooled by her mom, and their lives seem to be going pretty well, that is until Chloe discovers something very off about her mom’s grocery bag. You must be thinking, ‘this is BS, why was this movie even made, the inciting incident is literally a (insert curse word here) grocery bag.’ Don’t worry though, it gets better, because of Diane’s shopping, Chloe discovers that something weird is going on here, and then stuff happens that I won’t spoil. Now you’re thinking ‘oh great, now I’ve got to actually go watch the damn movie!’ My response is that you won’t be disappointed. So, what were my overall thought’s?
Run was absolutely awesome, I thought that the film was fantastic, certainly not perfect, but a whole lot of fun. You ever have that time when your sipping wine, and eating caviar upon your massive deck and think to yourself ‘man, I need to watch a good movie.’ Well, you’re in luck, toss out those garbage DVD’s you have (I’m assuming they’re garbage) and modernize your house with some streaming; in this case, open up Hulu, and watch this film, you’ll enjoy it. Run’s story isn’t a milestone in filmmaking, it’s basically Misery with a modern day filter, but it is refreshingly simple. I had a blast watching Run because it was short and sweet. Misery’s problem was that it had a very significant tone issue, like it couldn’t quite find what it wanted to be, unlike Misery, Run sets the stage harrowingly, and with ease. The tension builds from the very first scene, I had my fists clenched for 90 minutes straight, up until a deliciously ambiguous ending that worked amazingly well.
The plot however does bring me to my main issue, there were so many logical inconsistencies that were there simply to make the plot happen. You get over them eventually, but that doesn’t mean they’re invisible. I get why Chaganty chose to make these decisions for the sake of the story, but they don’t go unnoticed. The thing Searching did a little better was that the plot felt a little more real, Run felt a tad fake, like some scenarios in the film wouldn’t happen in real life. I personally enjoyed Run more than Searching, but that doesn’t necessarily mean every aspect of Run was better. Now that we’re comparing his films, let’s talk a little bit about Chaganty’s directing. Holy sh-t, this man knows how to direct a movie. Run gave him a little more legroom to show off his skill behind the camera than Searching did, and he did not disappoint. There are some truly haunting shots in the film that are pulled off so well thanks to Chaganty’s unique directorial style, and the masterful score by Torin Borrowdale. This team of filmmakers obviously cared about making a great movie, and for the most part, they pulled it off. The script, also by Chaganty, was fine, didn’t love it, there were some pretty flat lines of dialogue, but it’s overshadowed by the quality production value.
Let’s discuss the true standout of the film though, the cast. I was blown away by the two leads, who are really the only major characters in the film. Let’s start with Kiera Allen, playing her first role, Chloe Sherman. Allen was excellent, as an actor actually in a wheelchair, she added a sense of authenticity to the film. She had to pull off some crazy stunts that left me and Keaton gasping in awe. Her chemistry with Sarah Paulson was on point, and Allen’s performance also exhibited her emotional strength. The “Sweet, Sweet Awards” are just around the corner, and she almost certainly deserves a nomination. Sarah Paulson (12 Years a Slave) on the other hand was great as well, providing those sinister Kathy Bates vibes. She was really the only thing close to scary about the film, and despite some weaker dialogue, she handled her role extremely well.
The final verdict is: Despite Run’s noticeable inconsistencies, and a generic script, the film manages to pull through with an outstanding cast, flawless directing, and a story that’s basic, but full of fun…$PLURGE IT!