RUN, HIDE, FIGHT (2021)

RUN, HIDE, FIGHT (2021)

(Action, Thriller, Drama) [R*]

You don't really see me anymore sweetie. You just see the monster that got me.

In this one, a group of students take over a high school during lunch with guns and immediately start engaging in a sadistic takeover that involves having the events of the siege live-streamed on social media as it's happening. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Zoe Hull is struggling with her mom dying and today was not the day to screw with her. As the stakes get higher and higher and her fellow students and friends being killed, Zoe is faced with the choice to run, hide or fight! 

First off anyone saying this is basically the plot of DIE HARD has no idea what they are talking about. The depth of this film is incredibly complex and challenges everything we know about important conversations. For some reason this movie has stirred so much controversy it’s barely being talked about, but that is actually a “head in the sand” approach to this subject matter. School shootings are becoming more and more prevalent each year and failure to address it at all is a disservice to our youth. No matter what side you come down on in regards to how to protect our kids the conversation is necessary and this movie provokes all the emotions so many people have stuffed down deep inside. 

Zoe (played by Isabel May from LET’S SCARE JULIE) is one of the best young actresses on the planet and she kills this role generating a variety of range in emotions rarely rivaled. She outperforms actresses that have been in the business for decades in this and should be getting so many roles moving forward she couldn’t even do them all. Eli Brown is eerie and scary as hell as Tristan, the head of the sickos that take over the school. Brown is known for the TV show “Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists”. The movie also features brilliant young actor Olly Sholotan as Lewis Washington who ends up being one of the most relatable characters in the movie. Thomas Jane( known for DEEP BLUE SEA) is his usual incredible self. He plays the father that instilled Zoe with skills for survival and also fills an important but also controversial role as the movie plays out. We also get some fantastic secondary characters. Cyrus Arnold plays Kip Quade who is also a very dynamic character in this movie. He is also one of the major reasons this movie shouldn’t be compared to DIE HARD. Both are amazing movies, just not the same. That comparison is far too simplistic. Another solid character in this is played by Shelby Mayes who plays Cora. Cora for me is one of the great inspirations in this movie aside from Zoe, this isn’t to say there weren’t several. As I stated earlier this movie is complex in its challenges to our emotional landscape but it’s also loaded with wisdom. Most of this comes from conversations Zoe has in her head with her mom who has passed away. This role is competently played by Radha Mitchell who is known for her roles in ROGUE and PITCH BLACK among others. 

Fair warning, this movie is a school shooting movie and it’s not for the faint of heart. I personally grew up in a school where it wasn’t unheard of for kids to be packing and for students to drive trucks that had riffle racks in them. We didn’t have metal detectors and we didn’t have school shootings. This movie took a painstaking effort to be accurate regarding actions taken by authorities and school staff in a situation like this to make it as realistic as possible. All this while still delivering a message of female empowerment that rivals YOU’RE NEXT and SUCKER PUNCH while not overplaying anti-male sentiment. This movie is NOT for everyone, but it is critical in opening important and much-needed dialog. It also redresses reported incidents from Columbine playing out a different scenario and never delivers a clear motive as to “why” these kids are taking over the school. In that sense, the movie is a welcome punch in the gut. Not everything makes sense, not everything has a clear-cut reason, not everything has a motive and overcoming grief and processing it, rather than holding on to it is something we all need to strive for.  It also gives a great depiction of the beauty that lies on the other side of grief. This movie gives no political position or statement, so the fear of that should be eased. 

This isn’t entertainment as much as it is an awareness film. It’s put together extremely well and cinematically and directorially it’s better than anything Hollywood has done in years. This movie is a solid 7 out of 7. It will be maligned, it is controversial, but it’s powerful and touches on one of the more important subjects of our day. *This movie is not rated, but I gave it an R for language, violence, partial nudity. 

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