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Reviews
Run Hide Fight (2020)
Thomas Jane, how could you?
The very first review I'm reading here claims that this movie doesn't glorify violence and is completely void of any agenda or politics... that couldn't be further from the truth. Just to be clear, I actually support the 2nd amendment as well as hunting, but this movie is filled with more plot holes than all the shots fired, and there's a lot of shooting.
We start with father and daughter bonding out in the woods hunting deer. When they hit their mark and realize the deer is still alive, our protagonist brutally smashes its head with a rock. As another reviewer pointed out, this is illegal all over North America. It doesn't get any better from there.
We're supposed to be enraged at the school faculty because they made a ridiculous rule that they have to witness the shooters with guns before they can call the police, and they can't hear any of the gunfire, or the van crashing through a wall, and when they finally decide to go make eye contact, they send a security guard with a baton. Every one of these insane plot holes is meant to make us clench our fists at the evil liberal agenda that has prevented us from arming and training every student in the use of firearms, yet we're also supposed to empathize with the poor spree shooters cause somebody was mean to them once.
I really loved Thomas Jane in The Expanse, and his acting, as well as most of the cast here, is actually great, but the writing, directing, and hamfisted preaching made this a disappointment.
Ken Park (2002)
shock meets schlock...
Considering I grew up in Visalia, and spent much of my youth at the skate park featured at the beginning of the film, I can attest there is plenty of realism in this film. Our society is deeply troubled, and maybe YOU don't see things like this every day, but I certainly have. In fact, just this week one of the locals that starred in this film came to my friend's house in the middle of the night spun out of his gourd on meth. It would have fit perfectly as a scene in this film.
To those who argue detractors don't "get it", I promise you I do. My problem is for those who won't. I get it because I've lived in this town and seen its dirty side, which I'm positive can be seen in many other cities in this country. To someone who has led a sheltered and fortunate life, watching this movie will not help them to understand anything. To someone like me who hasn't led a sheltered and fortunate life, well there isn't much difference, this film is pure shock value with absolutely no plot.
It's possible to make a movie as shocking and graphic as this and still provide some sort of coherence and plot, but that's not Larry Clark's style. He simply confronts you with tragic and disturbing situations, with little empathy, understanding, or context. You're left just feeling disgusting.