Run with the Hunted

Newb (his third resume entry - this his second full length feature film) producer, writer and director John Swab did a decent job in the directing department, but the writing was a mess. I understood the story he was trying to tell, but it had many plot and technical issues, with choppy scenes. Had a seasoned writer made some edits, the story would've been much better told. Cinematography was great, the score decent, and the acting and casting on point, although Michael Pitt's performance and/or character was bland for the most part. Otherwise, not a bad film from a newbie filmmaker. 7/10 from me

Ok so I saw the 7.3 score and thought this must be good. 5 minutes into the film I sat thinking this film really isn't looking very good. So I looked at the score table. Have a look yourself and see if it makes any sense, it doesn't. I think somewhere the maths is wrong.

Reading thru other reviews as I downloaded this, deciding if it was worth watching, I decided it was, with good actors but within 20 minutes my mind was spinning as I asked myself repeatedly "where have I seen this before"? But it wasn't the plot, nor were it the actors. It was a riff on Oliver Twist. So if any adults are familiar with Fagin and the concept of the "kid school for criminals" then this will look familiar. Is it worth watching? That's up to you. I didn't mind it. But it wasn't great.

I only watched the movie because of the high rating. If I have first seen the users reviews, I would have not wasted my time!

Objectively: Plot holes too numerous to list but a major problem is the casting of the principals, Loux and Oscar. The features of the young actors are dramatically different from the adults but this can be excused in that I imagine that this can be a challenge. What is inexcusable is that Michael Pitt (adult Oscar) has different eye color to Mitchell Paulsen (young Oscar) and Madilyn Kellam (young Loux) has different eye color to Sam Quartin (adult Loux). Subjectively: Film is cast, directed and the script is written by very mediocre talent and by people that do not understand and have not researched the way packs of street kids work and interact together. The scene where Oscar "teaches" prospective tween muggers to commit armed robbery is ludicrous. Young inexperienced kids drawing guns in broad daylight, in the middle of a busy city?! Unrealistic. Adult Oscar does a high level disarming action and disarms and then trains the hand guns on not one but two of the trainees and then berates them for their error. Reasonable, I suppose if they are expected to be able to rob Jason Bourne. So this feeble sophomoric production meanders through its low-grade, implausible plot, with a cast of "street kids" that look more like kids on a field trip from a local prep school than street wise urchins ready to participate in armed robbery.