Review of The Runaways (2010) by Steve M — 14 Nov 2010

First of all, Iâ(TM)m not a Runaways fan and I had never heard of them before watching this movie, so I canâ(TM)t fully judge this project. It took me a while to get into it, but after 10 minutes or so I was quite amazed by their story: âThe Runawaysâ? is a movie that gives you the idea of the â(TM)70 even if youâ(TM)ve never lived them. Itâ(TM)s just so exciting to think that characters like Joan Jett and Cherie Currie really exist and then find out that you had heard some of their songs even if you didnâ(TM)t know it was theirs. I was really thrilled by more than half of the movie, and the ending didnâ(TM)t disappoint me as I would have expected.

The thing that disappointed me was that nothing about the group itself was fully explored â" this was more of a Joan Jett (and Cherie Currie) movie, not really a movie about the Runaways in my opinion. In fact you can see them play here and there, and then in Japan, and you get to understand what they were trying to do, but itâ(TM)s not really clear how many years they stayed together or which goals they achieved. For example, how many albums have they published? Thatâ(TM)s not really explained in the movie â" but toward the end you get to understand that the real star of the group was Joan who managed to pursue a successful soloist career writing very popular songs such as âI love Rock & Rollâ? and âBad Reputationâ?.

Also, Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning kind of pissed me off â" they were very good in playing their parts -- I don't know, maybe it was their hair, but I was really shocked by a few scenes. Michael Shannon was also great in his part: somehow funny, somehow scary but always very believable. Director Floria Sigismondi also did a great job: you could feel that she put lots of effort and passion in the project.

What else to say? I felt like if this movie was really made in the â(TM)70 â" and I ended up being very interested in what these girls were trying to do: they were trying to change the rock and roll music scene, they were so ahead for their times and what they did was really amazing. Details were just great, same with the soundtrack: all the songs were just amazing and helped me getting deeper into the project.

Thatâ(TM)s why I suggest you watch this movie, it was so interesting even if it might seem too girlish to some of you --- simply a great rock band biopic.