Review of Run Lola Run (1998) by Matthew D — 05 Aug 2018

Run Lola Run is certainly a '90's movie.

Franka Potente is running the same situation 3 times in 20 minute intervals essentially for this 90 minute art film from Germany. I get that it was heavily praised at the time of its release in the 1990's, but it has aged poorly. The acting is not particularly impressive as many in the cast are overacting.

The music is very dated in the 90's as its club techno music that mostly died after that decade. It's high stakes hyper fast pacing is nice as it keeps the plot moving. The funniest part is the overly dramatic 90's art house edits where there will be exaggerated screams, close ups, long pans, long takes, and even dual screen shots where multiple events are taking place at the same time on screen.

I can see how Franka Potente became a famous actress for Run Lola Run as The Bourne Identity (which cast her after this film) clearly was influenced by its stylized cinematography. There are some neat ideas, such as when Potente hits someone while running, we see what their future will end up being, but it does seem unrelated to the plot. It's like it's just there for shock factor.

Overall, I had some fun with Run Lola Run, but it's an incredibly frustrating movie that could have been so much better with a decent script and sense of cohesive storytelling. It's all style here that's rather dated. Maybe worth a single viewing.