The Runners

...when a filmmaker wears too many hats, it's usually a flop. But this film had two filmmakers wearing every hat, and for a B-grade film, it wasn't too shabby.

Joey Loomis and Micah Lyons were mostly both producers, directors, actors, editors, casting, visuals and writer. It was a good story in general, but it certainly had writing and technical issues with amateurish plot lapses in the screenplay. The sound was mainly off - perhaps someone forgot the boom mics. Directing was decent, and the cinematography good, but some actors needed better character direction from the directors, including the directors.

Although flawed with some cheesy scenes, the 94 min runtime and good pacing with decent action and suspense, had me glued to the screen. Never mind the bogus 9 and 10/10's or the troll 1/10's, it's an honest and generous B-graded 7/10 from me.

I should probably be embarrassed that I laughed so hard during a film about human trafficking, but that's how bad this film was. The acting was bad, the dialogue elementary, and the fight sequences so ridiculous, I hoped they'd all die just so it would be over already.

The Bad Guy had skills - NO ONE else had skills. SWAT command was a joke. Soldiers seemed to be very easy to head fake. The legion of bad guys forming the kill box had more rounds than accuracy - must have had 5000 round magazines !! With that much lead flying you would have expected the fight to be over in 15 seconds - but it drug on, and on, and on... I'd say the movie was FRUSTRATING times 10.

Ridiculous behavior by the supposed hero ruins the movie. The plot could be good and the actors not too bad but the movie was just not well made and stupid at times

Micah Lyons ("Ryan") has to head to Mexico to rescue his recently kidnapped little sister before she becomes embroiled in the drug-fuelled sex trade. Quickly adopting the kind of ninja skills that would flatten an entire army, he manages to overwhelm just about everyone as he races to her side. The acting, dialogue and storyline in general are all the stuff of a college project. Lyons appears to have done all but make the coffee, and as is frequently the case when the star/director has no sense of objectivity, what is produced is a messy, ill-conceived story with more plot holes than a Dutch cheese. There isn't the slightest degree of jeopardy anywhere and the adventure - such as it is - seems to be based on the premiss that he is the only one who has the remotest chance of hitting what he aims at, despite being constantly out-numbered, out-positioned and out-gunned. It's a labour of love for a very mediocre star working with an equally unremarkable script and supporting cast. Nothing to see here, really, even if you are a fan of the genre.