Run Sweetheart Run follows assistant and single mother Cherie (Ella Ballinska) on the fight for her life in a night long purge. A scheduling mistake landing on her boss' (Clark Gregg) anniversary, forces Cherie into agreeing to attend a business dinner in his place with his known client Ethan (Pilou Asbæk). Unbeknownst to her that the night would take a sharp turn into gore and pain.
If anyone tells you that this movie is simply a horror please understand that they are lying. It is a multi-genre concoction that ultimately has this reason to blame for its downfall. The movie begins as a drama and slowly entered the realm of deep romance, just to be forcefully rushed into the land of horror all within minutes.
Attempting to embody the entire range of slasher movies, RSR becomes almost comedic, predictable and takes away from the intended serious message. As members of the audience we are aware of what a characters inner monologue may be. What is not required is a fat ‘RUN’ at every brain click moment. Every large sticker turned the scene from thrilling into an audition for the scary movie franchise.
Ambiguity and the art of being subtle are key components in horror. No spoilers are ever given away on this page however it must be said that the movie was predictable. Too much emphasis was put on the moments that lead you to the “that’s right” or “oh yeah”. It forced the audience into figuring out why it was being done only to be right half way though the movie. Which is disappointing considering that the Producer birthed amazing material like The Purge, Get Out and Truth for Dare.
Judgements aside the movie made good use of breaking the fourth wall. In the first instance (revealed in the trailer) the interaction with the viewers built tension. It was thrilling and let it be known that something, that anything was coming.
The central theme that swims through this movie from the opening scene to the end is Misogyny and the struggles of your twenty first century woman. The entire script reeks of men preying and feasting on women. Nothing ridiculously new for slasher movies, the half naked women tend to die tripping over a rock or are seen running for their lives at some point. Except in this script it’s all night long, a “scream moment” extended over two hours and called a movie.
The male gaze by definition ‘describes a way of looking at and being seen in the world that empowers men and sexualizes women’. The women behind the show did not flinch at highlighting the degenerate behaviour of some men in everyday life. The unwanted closeness and groping on public transport, the dismissal of sexual harassment complaints, stalking online profiles and even being forced to attend a late night meeting regardless of childcare. Cherie is put in every possible uncomfortable situation where a helping hand was within arms reach, and yet no one offered it to her even women turned a blind eye. As said to her by Ethan ' It doesn’t matter what happened or not because no ones going to believe you because no one cares'. Men who were once sent off to war and were expected to build houses ignored the sight of another man beating a woman to a pulp. The female struggles outside of men were also shown with being a single mother and working a full time job. As well as the lack of access to sanitary products too.
What’s worse than an ordinary mentally unstable aggressive man? A supernatural villainous one…just not in this case. The backbone of RSR is a woman surviving in a world where she’s prayed upon especially at night. Watching her crawl off of the floor, flag down strangers in the street or take refuge in a church. We are watching a struggle, for some a relatable one. However, that’s stripped away when the element of the supernatural comes into play. It’s no longer a man preying on women, Cherie could be replaced by anyone that bleeds.
The ‘slasher horror’ originally premiered in 2020 at Sundance with a slightly different plot however, it was not officially released until October 2022. Some leeway must be gifted to the team behind RSR as their access to facilities and cast members ran especially thin. Filmed in the height of Covid, restrictions created barriers during production. Hence the two and a half year wait before officially releasing the movie.
Although, it can be argued that many other movies or televisions series were able to provide good material whilst operating with similar circumstances. Could it potentially be maxing out the budget ? Scenes were filmed again due the change in storyline with Cherie openly wanting to date and ending up in this predicament. Regardless catering to current times is important and perhaps the barely altered movie was more 2019 than 2022.
Performances from the main cast were undoubtably good, Ella Balinska sold the audience with her range of emotions. Pilou Asbæk's Ethan is truly how you would have imagined a sociopath to to carry themselves physically and emotionally. Not to mention Betsy Brandt's performance as the only helpful woman despite clearly being under pressure by her husband. It is just unfortunate that the actors were suckerpunched by a poor script and execution.
Add comment
Comments