Cat Run

"She wanted it, she told me to." Catalina (Vega) and her escort friends are at a high end party when senator Bill Krebb (McDonald) goes to far and one of the girls ends up dead. Catalina takes the tape and runs. An assassin is hired to find her and and get the tape back. Catalina finds two private investigators who are just starting up to help her. This is a movie that was actually pretty good, but the big problem was that it was a little too long. There were some really exciting and fun action scenes and tense moments in this, but there were also some very slow paced and unnecessary scenes that slowed the movie down and kept it from being consistent the entire time. Equal parts action and comedy made it a fun watch, but nothing to rush out and see either. Overall, an entertaining movie that is worth watching once but that's about it. I give it a B.

A bunch of prostitutes go to a fancy party. Among them is Cat and a friend of hers. Among the guests is an American ambassador. The palatial house is owned by a mean guy named Carver. When the ambassador gets rough and kills one of the girls, all hell breaks lose. Carver decides to kill all the girls. Cat manages to escape.

Next morning while on the run she makes a phone call at a restaurant owned by Anthony. She steals his car and his friend's phone. Around this time the friend, named Julian, proposes they start a private detective business. Anthony eventually agrees. They get an "office" in a porn theater, hire a guy missing 3 limbs as an assistant, and take on the "case" of finding Cat.

Also looking for her is Carver. As it turns out Cat stole a hard drive of his with evidence of all sorts of wrongdoings. He hires a hitwoman Helen, a prim and proper English woman. And she's mean. She and the two morons follow the same trail--Cat's family in Spain, her pimp, and eventually the two find Cat just as Helen finds them all. They barely manage to escape. When Helen fails to do her job, Carver sends a hit-man after her. That causes Helen to join forces with the other 3, who now go after the ambassador and Carver. They crash another one of his parties and violence and the resolution ensues.

This movie is not at all what it seems like. Cat is a very secondary character, and no, she isn't not some action chick. Initially it's all about the two fools chasing after Cat. And they make terrible lead characters. Since they are so weak, the appearance of Helen livens things up considerably, except that she it detestable. Things improve when the Scottish hit-man appears but unfortunately he's there only for a short time. While the characters are lame, the story is alright and the action is pretty good. This movie delights in some of the extremes it shows. The settings in Serbia are pretty neat and interesting. Overall a fairly decent movie that's at times annoying but overall entertaining and action packed.

Anthony has done his best to distance himself from his family. He even moved out of the U.S. and opened a restaurant on another continent. Business wound up kind of sucking and when his best friend finds him and gives him the idea to start a detective agency he folds. Their first case, though, takes them further into danger than they ever expected.

I hate the word "derivative." In fact, the only time you'll ever see it used in one of my reviews is when I'm making fun of it. Why? Well, when a critic uses the word to describe a movie, they're basically just saying that the film was imitating another one. In a lot of cases, I find that it's less imitation and more inspiration. I mean, directors grow up watching movies and honed their styles in the memory of their favorites, right? So almost every one of them has been inspired by something someone else made. If a critic simply means the movie is cookie cutter or unimaginative – then they should just say that. I feel like it's just a word those people use to sound more elitist.

Cat Run was not well liked by critics. I think the lot of them were watching the wrong movie or something, because I thought the film was hilarious.

There's a lot of sex and nudity, but considering the main plot it makes sense for there to be a lot of sexuality. There was also the buddy- detective aspect because of the two main characters. Most of Cat Run actually seemed like an episode of Psyche with different actors. It did have some relatively original parts, though, and I thought the characters came alive through the actors.

There were some plot holes. The only one that I can mention without adding a spoiler alert, however, is that it's never explained why Anthony has such superior observation skills (his skills are revealed roughly 10 minutes into the movie). I would have liked to know the story behind it.

The Andorran call girl and single mother Catalina "Cat" Rona (Paz Vega) is hired to participate in an orgy in Montenegro with other escorts and powerful men and the American Senator William Krebb (Christopher McDonald). Something goes wrong with the politician and all the girls are murdered by the security of the host to avoid witnesses. However Cat escapes and brings a hard-drive with classified information with her. There is a manhunt for Cat and the cruel assassin Helen Bingham (Janet McTeer) is hired to retrieve the HD and kill Cat.

Meanwhile the Americans Julian Simms (Alphonso McAuley) and Anthony Hester (Scott Mechlowicz) decide to open a detective agency to raise money. When they see on the newspaper that Cat is being chased, they decide to seek her out expecting to receive a reward. However, they cross the path of Helen and they end protecting Cat from the killer. When Helen is betrayed by those who had hired her, she decides to help Anthony, Julian and Cat to retrieve the HD and their freedom.

"Cat Run" is an action-comedy with a heavy handed direction and lack of humor in a rip-off of Guy Ritchie style. Unfortunately the plot is silly and absurd and never works. In addition, Alphonso McAuley is not funny and Helen Bingham is a cliché of other assassins. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Gata em Fuga" ("Cat in Flight")

"Cat Run" was really an explosive surprise of a movie. I hadn't expected this at all.

The story in "Cat Run" is one of multiple facets. First we have the story of longtime friends Anthony Hester (played by Scott Mechlowicz) and Julian Simms (played by Alphonso McAuley) who team up to make a private investigator company and end up hot on the trail on a rather big case. American senator Bill Krebb (played by Christopher McDonald) is doing shady business in Eastern Europe and is caught on video with prostitutes, a video he doesn't want to go public, and this event was Catalina Rona (played by Paz Vega) witness to. Hired to clean up the loose ends and the mess is professional hit(wo)man Helen Bingham (played by Janet McTeer).

Essentially it is a high-octane thriller of cat-and-mouse chase mixed up with some spy activity, and just the right amount of comedy. And the end result was awesome.

I found "Cat Run" to be incredibly entertaining, both story-wise, action-wise and comedy-wise. This movie had all the ingredients required for a great movie.

The action sequences in the movie were really great, nicely choreographed, and could easily as well have been something right out of a James Bond movie. Thumbs up on that. And thumbs up for Janet McTeer, she was off the charts in the action sequences.

The people cast for the roles in "Cat Run" were doing really good jobs with their characters. Especially Janet McTeer, she was really the driving force behind this movie.

If you like action movies, like spy movies, and like comedy movies, then you definitely owe it to yourself to sit down and watch "Cat Run", because it is well worth it. Great entertainment from start till end.