Parkour is so much fun to watch, however there hasn't been one film that heavily features 'parkour' that has been enjoyable. If you are unfamiliar with parkour, it means the activity or sport of moving rapidly through an area, typically in an urban environment, negotiating obstacles by running, jumping, and climbing. You might have seen this activity at the very start of the recent 'Casino Royale'.
'Run', which was made for the straight-to-video market is in 3D and heavily feature the parkour movement. Unfortunately for us, this film doesn't have a single solid bone in its body that makes it enjoyable. From the clunky editing to the cheesy dialogue, to the messy plot and terrible special effects, this movie will have you running away and not looking back.
The biggest name in the film is Eric Roberts, who is in literally everything. Sure, he was in 'The Dark Knight' and 'Best of the Best' in the 1980s, but other than that, you wouldn't recognize any of the 250 films he has said yes to, which is clearly to everything. I'm sure we have all watched some sort of parkour attempt on YouTube before, and it seemed like director Simone Bartesaghi wanted to take the best videos he watched online and put them in a movie.
But a this feature length film is 90 minutes and does not thrill or amaze you in any way shape or form with very little actual parkour being shot. 'Run' follows a teenage kid named Daniel Lombardo (William Moseley, one of the kids from the 'Narnia' films), who lives with his handicapped dad. His father has Daniel rob smalls stores to make money, knowing that his son can easily escape any situation with his parkour skill. Daniel's mother is out of the picture as she died when Daniel was born.
We soon find out that Daniel's mom comes from a sadistic mafia family where her brother Jeremiah (Eric Roberts) believes that the father was responsible for her death. One too many robberies put the heat on Daniel and his father and they move to New York, but are soon pursued by the mafia. As Daniel enrolls in school and makes friends for the first time in his life, he decides he wants more to life than crime, and must settle one last job to be out of the business, which involves a lot of parkour.
This is a silly movie on every level. Instead of trying to win you over with a good script and some suspenseful moments, it tries to be hip and flashy. Come to think of it, this film plays more like 'Step Up 3D', more so than an actual crime thriller. The acting is dull and boring, as each actor delivers the next cheesiest line. The Parkour scenes very choppy, giving us almost no opportunity to really see the great stunt work, and the special effects are so bad, it makes 'Sharknado' look like 'Gravity'. This is a fine example of moviemaking at its worst.
'Run' comes with an okay 1080p HD transfer presented in 1.78:1 aspect ratio. It comes with one disc, which you can choose to either watch it in 3D or in 2D. The detail is mostly sharp with well-defined closeups of the actor's faces. But in the wider shots, things get a little soft, which is unfortunate with the 3D option, as it doesn't give as much depth as I'd like.
Also, in the heavier CG effects scenes, the image gets fuzzy and much softer, and is quite distracting. The colors are well-saturated though and seem to pop off-screen quite nicely. I've seen a better 3D job, as nothing really stands out and gives us a sense of real depth or framing for each scene. There are a couple of moments where objects fly out of the screen, but they are not often. The skin tones are natural and the black levels run deep when there is not a CG heavy scene. This video presentation is barely passable.
This release comes with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio mix and sounds much better than it looks. The dialogue is always crystal clear and easy to understand and perfectly situated on the center channel. It's a well-balanced audio track, free of any pops, cracks, or hissing. The sound effects and ambient noises are robust and loud, and pour from the surrounds quite often.
The dynamic range is wide with excellent fidelity. The bass also shakes things up a bit too here in the heavier action sequences. The score and music always add to each scene in a much needed way and never drown out any of the dialogue or sound effects. This is a solid audio presentation.
'Run' is a terrible film on every level. It's not suspenseful, fun, or funny in any way shape or form. It just missed the mark every time it tried to do something clever or even deliver a line of dialogue. The video and 3D are sub par, but the audio is quite good. The extra is not worth your time either. I'd skip this release all together.
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