A high school senior who has checked out of school life after the death of her mother is thrust right back into it during a school shooting in Run Hide Fight, a tasteless but extremely well-made thriller that premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival and can now be streamed at… The Daily Wire?
Distribution via Ben Shaprio’s conservative online platform, coupled with Run Hide Fight’s exploitative take on a serious topic, has led to its dismissal by all ‘reputable’ critics: the movie currently boasts an impressive 13 (out of 100) over at Metacritic.
But that’s not only doing a disservice to the movie, but also potential viewers: Run Hide Fight is an undeniably polished thriller that strains credibility but remains compulsively watchable throughout. If the prospect of watching a Die Hard-like action movie play out during a school shooting doesn’t immediately turn you off, you’ll find a lot to like here.
Written and directed by Kyle Rankin, Run Hide Fight stars Isabel May (Netflix’s Alexa & Katie) as Zoe Hull, who lost her mother to cancer some months ago and responds by bashing a deer’s head in with a rock in the film’s opening scene. Thomas Jane is Zoe’s veteran father, who sees the same look of defeat in his daughter he saw in soldiers during the Iraq War.
Once a promising student, Zoe has lost interest in high school life during her last few months of education, and even the gags pulled during Senior Prank Day aren’t enough to pull her back in. Even close friend Lewis (Olly Sholotan) struggles to raise her spirits in advance of the upcoming prom.
But everything changes when a shooting breaks out in the school’s cafeteria while Zoe is in the restroom. Encouraged by the spirit of her dead mother (Radha Mitchell), who lends the film it’s title (also the FBI protocol for a live shooter situation), Zoe fights her way out of the school — before fighting her way back in to rescue her classmates.
Because this is essentially the Die Hard formula, the events of Run Hide Fight don’t resemble any real-world school shooting. Instead, this is a hostage situation, with the oddball Tristan Voy (Eli Brown, aping Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight) leading a quartet of shooters in holding the cafeteria hostage while the rest of the school, and local law enforcement, are painfully slow to react.
That leaves an opportunity for 17-year-old Zoe to turn into John McClane: you know, climb through vents, dispose of the shooters as they chase after her one-by-one, take their weapons, and relay info to police outside the building (Treat Williams plays the local Sheriff) while trying to save the day all by herself.
Run Hide Fight doesn’t bring anything fresh to the formula beyond its setting, but it doesn’t need to. This is a surprisingly first-rate production that has some real flavor, right down to the production design and costumes, and keeps moving fast enough before we have time to question the inconsistencies. It’s the best film Project Greenlight grad Rankin has produced, and a step up from last year’s Becky, which covered some similar ground.
The setup rarely feels credible, and the shooters’ ultimate plan is a real head-scratcher. But perhaps that’s for the best: scenes that do feel realistic, such as when a teacher approaches Tristan and attempts to talk him down, come off as queasily tasteless.
Run Hide Fight was already going to divide audiences, and it’s distribution via The Daily Wire certainly won’t help; many will avoid seeing the film based on its streaming platform alone. But don’t let that stop you: this is one of the best action movies of early 2021, regardless of where it’s playing.
