Run Lola Run (1998)

Run Loal Run is a thriller that sees Manni, who works as a minor courier for a major gangster, accidentally leave 100,000 deutschmarks, from their last deal, on the subway. Now faced with twenty minutes to come up with the cash or he will die, Manni calls his girlfriend Lola, who as the seconds tick down must think of a way to raise the 100,000 deutschmarks before time runs out.

Overall Review Score

3.5 out of 10

Review

Run Lola Run, also known is Lola Rennt, is a 1998 German thriller dubbed in English. The film takes inspiration from the 1981 Krzysztof Kieslowski film ‘Blind Chance’ to deliver three intertwined scenarios in 77-minutes. While the action revolves around Lola running across the streets of Berlin to ask her father ‘Papa’ for help in order to save her boyfriend Manni, the film resonates with the audience as it causes them to ponder how their life could have been different if they did or did not make certain choices. Away from this, the films thriller element is somewhat diluted with every alternative ending proposed as the audience slowly begins to become bored, due to the film repeating large portions of the original introduction and outcomes being more and more predictable. Overall, Run Lola Run provides an interesting thriller that can be summed up by its artistically interesting opening credit sequence and voiceover narrative, which states: “Man... probably the most mysterious species on our planet. A mystery of unanswered questions. Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? How do we know what we think we know? Why do we believe anything at all? Countless questions in search of an answer... an answer that will give rise to a new question... and the next answer will give rise to the next question and so on. But, in the end, isn't it always the same question? And always the same answer?“ It is ultimately a half decent film that is worth watching, although there is very little value in re-watching the film.

Reviewer 1's score & comments:

Score: 2 out of 10

Comments:

Run Lola Run is a film that personifies how one small decision can alter someone's life. During its 77 minute runtime the audience is treated to three different version of the story, each with their own conclusions and character development, which ensures the audience are left wondering what is going to happen. Personally though I felt that the story could have been more thought out, as the same characters pretty much turn up in each scenario and I think that the director could have toned down the amount of transition shot between frames. While this is not really a negative of the film, I think that after a while it loss all its charm and just becomes an annoyance for the audience.

Reviewer 2's score & comments:

Score: 5 out of 10

Comments:

Run Lola Run is an unusual film. It tells the same story but outlines how differing actions can change the outcome, which is really a metaphor for life. While watching the film I somewhat enjoyed the little snippets showing how supporting characters lives changed due to Lola’s actions. However, by the third run, I could not help but feel outlandish scenarios were eroding the main core content, i.e. Lola trying to save her boyfriend. For example, Lola winning the required money at a Casino in less than twenty minutes despite not having enough money to enter the Casino in the first place. Overall, Run Lola Run offers a unique perspective on the multi-thread style of storytelling but does not deliver enough variety to sustain its run time; realistically the writer could have taken the same concept and applied it to a different script with much better results.

#crime #thriller