Run, Hide, Fight (2020 movie)

Category: school-shooter action drama 

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Before I get in to the meat of my review of Run, Hide, Fight, I'm going to address the political elephant in the room:

I've noticed that this movie has been dragged a lot on social media, and almost every review of this film I've seen not only makes mentions the fact it is a Daily Wire film, but views the movie in that reference frame.

So with that, I am going to preface this review with a couple of notes:

1. Me being an Australian, as much as I try, I will be fairly unfamiliar with some of the cultural nuances that were presented.

2. This review will be apolitical - I will treat this movie as if it were produced by The Daily Wire, by Disney, by some kids in a theatre with a shaky handicam - it doesn't matter!

And here lies an inconvenient fact - this film was NOT produced by The Daily Wire. The Daily Wire only picked up the North American distribution rights (which may explain why I had to change my VPN settings to be able to get it), and they presented the film as a big deal by interviewing the director, actors, safety experts, etc - but they didn't make this movie  - they merely just made it a big deal!

So anyway, Run, Hide, Fight deals with the very heavy topic of school shooting and bravery in the face of danger. The basic plot outline is that a group of four teenagers hold their high school hostage and aren't afraid to let bullets fly and blades penetrate in order to make their point that…society is full of garbage people...by being garbage people themselves? Geniuses, the lot of them. But thwarting their plans is Zoe Hull, a teenager who bravely takes on the group of four by using the survival skills taught to her by her army vet dad, as well guidance from visions of her recently deceased mother.

Zoe confronts the three henchmen mini-boss style, lets kids out to safety, and then kills the main villain in a manner that matches the opening scene. Good guys win, bad guys lose, and no police are needed in the end because all it takes to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy (or girl in this case) with a gun.

While watching this film, it felt like Die Hard in a high school (though with a much less charismatic lead villain), but I do have to say - it is well-produced. Good camera work, good pacing, great special effects, and a somewhat believable story (though the writing is where the movie lets itself down) - let me just say, this wasn't some $5 bargain-basement thing produced as a tax write-off.

And probably the thing I like most about the movie is that the female lead actually acts like a human - she gets hurt, she shows vulnerability, her character arc isn't too hokey, and she wasn't written to be a boss-gal who don't need no man…take that, woke feminists!

There are some references to previous high-profile school shootings - the narcissist leader, Tristan, is a callback to Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold is represented by the vengeful Kip, and Chris Jellick who hears voices seems to be referencing Adam Lanza. There is also a part where a teenage girl is asked if she believes in God, a clear nod to Cassie Bernall and/or Rachel Scott - which is sure to wet the pants of the Christian Conservatives that comprise a large chunk of The Daily Wire's audience.

But it is the writing that lets the movie down. It had a chance to say something, but really just ended up being a whole lot of set pieces and action-movie tropes. If I were writing this movie, I would want to flesh out the characters out more and show more lead-up to the events from the point of view of the four antagonists to really set the scene and get their message across about the factors that led up to the shooting, just to really make us think about gun control and the effects of good policing - instead, we got an action movie being sold as a Right-wing wet dream by a company positioning themselves as anti-Disney.

Final star rating: 3.75/5 - not the worst movie I've ever seen, good production values, but let down by the writing.