5 Questions: Run (2013)

A few months back I watched the movie Tracers on Netflix. So naturally when a movie similar to Tracers ended up on Netflix, the algorithms did what algorithms are supposed to do and it was suggested by Netflix that I watch the 2013 movie titled Run or Street Run as it is also known.

So before I knew it I hit play and was asking myself  things like “Am I really watching another Parkour themed movie?” and “How many more Parkour themed movies are there?” and “Can the market sustain multiple Parkour themed movies?”

But the questions did not stop there…

1. Is there any truth to the rumors that during the filming of the movie Run that the producers declared “We must beat Tracers!” to guarantee that Run was the first romantic Parkour action movie released?  

There are plenty of similarities between the movies Run and Tracers. Both feature a romantic story line mixed in with the action packed world of Parkour. Both feature leading men who are most famous for starring in films geared towards a younger audience and films that were based on a series of books. Tracers had Taylor Lautner of Twilight fame, while Run had William Moseley of The Chronicles of Narnia fame. So it is believable that Run wanted to be first in the marketplace. Although given the fact that Run was released in August of 2013 and Tracers was not released until 2015, I don’t believe this rumor is true and it seems like something that could only have happened back in the 80’s.

2. How was Daniel Lombardi able to enroll in so many different schools? 

In Run, Daniel Lombardi (William Moseley) and his father Michael Lombardi (Adrian Pasdar) have been on the run ever since Daniel was born. The story is that Michael worked for a connected guy in New York City named Jeremiah (Eric Roberts). He was also dating Jeremiah’s sister, who was pregnant with Daniel, when she was shot and killed. Jeremiah blamed Michael for his sister’s death, so Michael was forced to go off the grid with his son (who they were able to save before his mother died) and the two moved all over the country, running from Michael’s dangerous enemies.

My question is, in today’s computerized world, how was Michael able to enroll his son in so many different schools, since they’d go by different names every time they moved. Perhaps he was some sort of hacker, but that was never really established in the movie. In Run’s defense they did have a lot of Parkour montages to fit into the movie and the producers probably thought people would rather see the love story between Daniel and Emily develop than somebody hacking into a computer and creating bogus school transcripts.

3. Is Edoardo Ballerini as shady in real life as he seems to be in all his movies? 

For better or worse, type casting happens all the time in Hollywood. But after seeing Edoardo Ballerini playing the villain in movies like Run, The Substitute 2: School’s Out and Malevolent it makes a person wonder if Ballerini is actually as sketchy as he seems to be in these movies or he just looks the part.

To be safe I don’t think I’ll be inviting Ballerini into my home anytime soon.

4. Would any high school student actually wear an Angry Birds hoodie? 

With over a billion downloads, there’s no denying the popularity of the game Angry Birds. I spent more than my fair share of time knocking things down with a sling shot and some birds, but I find it hard to believe that high school aged kids would wear Angry Birds apparel, especially someone as cool as Mark Baltimore (Craig Henningsen). An Angry Birds hoodie seems like something a grade schooler would wear or maybe even a kid in junior high, but high school?!? Perhaps Mark was trying to be ironic or maybe he was just a huge fan of Angry Birds and was not ashamed of his fandom. I can respect him for that.

Bonus Question: I wonder if any of the characters in the upcoming The Angry Birds Movie will return the favor and wear a Run hoodie?

5. How long was Eric Roberts actually on set? 

I am going to say two days max. And while Roberts’ role in the film is not a big one, the man does know how to maximize his minutes and make the most of his screen time. He may be taking up the “turn actor” mantle that was vacated when the great Ed Lauter died back in 2013, because Run definitely took a turn when the Jeremiah character first appears.

Smaller roles like his work in Run would explain how Eric Roberts can manage to be in so many different movies each year. Roberts had over 20 movie and television appearances in 2015 alone, including The Condemned 2.