Running Through Darkness

This was just so bad. The acting was bad, the sound effects were non-existent, and the story was super basic. There's several bad scenes that stick out: the one where the bad guy shows the good guy a family and relates their situation to them, the silent fight scene, and who could forget the father/son bonding moment! This is worse than made for TV movies. I wish Amazon Prime would stop tricking me into watching movies like this.

This was a simple story with a very likable leading man. His 'regular' demeanor was refreshing and made him quite likable. I felt for him. He was in over his head and was just doing the best he could. The relationship between him and the female lead never quite jelled for me. She gave a good performance. She reminded me a bit of Zooey Deschanel. That, "I don't care" attitude, which worked for this role. And it made her turn at the end plausible. She gave a solid performance.

The overall film held my attention and kept me wanting to watch to see what would happened. I think a thriller is a hard film to make and Peter O'brien did a good job of keeping things moving and making the audience feel off balance as we wondered what nasty thing might befall either character.

Our main protagonist goes out for a jog and finds an old flame beaten by the side of the road. She asks for his help, to kill the man who hurt her. He looks into this guy who turns out to be a proper nutcase. But suddenly he is in danger because this volatile guy wants something from him. Now both his morality and his will to survive are challenged and he must decide on how to get out of this nightmare. We follow his struggle, question his reasoning and ultimately root for him to survive this ordeal.

Despite the budget constraints I feel that this indie has achieved what it set to do, pull us into the world of deceit and despair, where we root for the protagonist to come out alive.

All too often you see people of color portrayed in films as either racial stereotypes, or scapegoats for racial stereotypes. This film stands tall and just tells a simple story about people in an insane situation. It was so great to see a black protagonist not bound by social expectations. I kept waiting for that to come into play and it never did. A great surprise. Very progressive.

Character and casting aside, the film itself is pretty impressive. It reminded me of what independent films were like, before celebrities started making them their pet projects. Obviously no one famous was involved. I didn't recognize anyone in the film, which helped lend credibility to the characters and situations. There were some very tense moments between the main character and the bad guy.

One thing that really stood out to me was the music. It hit in all the right places and set a perfect tone for the film. OH! And the chase scene was a lot of fun, too. Thank you to the filmmakers for putting out such a truly independent film. A lot better than most of the stuff I've seen in the theaters (and online) lately.

Okay the beginning is stupid. You find some girl in an alley you don't take her home with you. Sorry but that just doesn't happen.

-1 Star For a Dumb Opening......

-1 Star For the Bizarre 'Kill Triangle' crap.

-1 Star for WOWZO...the incredibly fake fight scene about 2/3 of the way thru. That fakery should have been reshot. I've seen better fights in the reenactments at a Renaissance Faire.

This one is about to fall off the seat and into the toilet bowl!!!!!

Oh my I made it to the end and the end was lame as well.

Really did not like this one at all....

2/10