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RUN HIDE FIGHT (2021)
Run Hide Fight poster

CAST
ISABEL MAY
ELI BROWN
CYRUS ARNOLD
BARBARA CRAMPTON
THOMAS JANE
APRIL McCULLOUGH
RADHA MITCHELL
OLLY SHOLOTAN
TREAT WILLIAMS

WRITTEN BY
KYLE RANKIN

EDITED BY
MATTHEW LORENTZ

CINEMATOGRAPHY BY
DARIN MORAN

MUSIC BY
MONDO BOYS

PRODUCED BY
AMANDA PRESMYK
DALLAS SONNIER

DIRECTED BY
KYLE RANKIN

GENRE
ACTION
THRILLER

RATED
AUS:NA
UK:NA
USA:NA

RUNTIME
109 MIN

 

 

 

 

 

 

Run Hide Fight image

Led by an electric Isabel May, Run Hide Fight is a stake filled and brutally violent action thriller that, while too long and drags at times, makes good use of its Die Hard-in-high-school plotline.

Written and directed by Kyle Rankin (The Witch Files), the film is set at a small-town high school a day before the senior prom. While the students are giddy in anticipation, a van crashes into the school cafeteria carrying a bomb and four armed students. Led by psychotic outsider Tristan Voy (Eli Brown) their violence is swift and savage, and their mission is simple: to share their carnage and manifesto in front of as many screens as possible.

What Tristan and his homicidal cohorts did not count on was a kink in their plans in the form of troubled student Zoe Hull (Isabel May), who may look like a wallflower, but has much grit, gumption, and her own brand of swift violence. So begins a very Die Hard inspired action thriller in which Zoe tries to save as many students and faculty as possible, while staying one step ahead of the bad guy.

The use of a school-shooting scenario may be too much for some, but works very well in a film that tackles violence, media, and the choices needed to be made in a desperate situation. The film’s title, Run Hide Fight, very much describes the stages Zoe goes through when faced with an unthinkable situation in which the stakes are a matter of life and death.

Isabel May is simply terrific as Zoe, evoking a striking similarity to a Winter’s Bone era Jennifer Lawrence, while convincingly portraying her depth, unwavering principals, and gritty resilience. With a charisma that is simply magnetic, May captures the audience whenever she is on the screen, and leaves us wanting more whenever she is off it.

Rankin thankfully does not attempt to make Zoe an action hero of the superhero, Atomic Bomb style variety. There is a realism (or as real as these films can get) to the films violence that is both startling and intense. A shorter runtime and tighter pacing could have made it that much better, with one too many bad-guy monologues and forays outside the school grounds often disrupting the films pace. Regardless, Run Hide Fight works as an action thriller of high stakes and an excellent lead performance.

***1/2

 

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