Prime Video’s ‘Run Sweetheart Run’ is a horror thriller that follows a budding lawyer, Cherie. After a scheduling conflict, she agrees to fill in for her boss and go on a dinner with one of his clients, ending up in a game of life and death.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Story
Run Sweetheart Run introduces Cherie, a single mother, who works at a reputed law firm as an assistant to James R. Fuller. She is a budding lawyer herself and wants to create a better life for her daughter Luze.
On the day of James’ wedding anniversary, Cherie accidentally books him for dinner with a client named Ethan Sacks. To fix things, she agrees to dine with Ethan instead.
The client turns out to be a charming man who is exceptionally wealthy. They have a nice meal, spend some quality time together and return to his place.
In a horrifying turn of events, Ethan physically assaults Cherie who escapes his house in an extremely battered state. Running for her life, she slowly discovers that she’s been marked in a deadly game of cat and mouse that will only end if she is able to survive the night.
Performances
Ella Balinska stars as Cherie and her performance is quite stellar. She does exceptionally well to emote Cherie’s trauma as she battles for her life against an otherworldly force, while being covered in blood for the most part.
It is unfortunate that we only get to see her as a scared woman for most of the film as she shines even more as a character willing to fight back.
Pilou Asbæk as Ethan is the highlight of Run Sweetheart Run. The GOT actor is so good at playing the villain that you could watch him do his thing for endless hours. Ethan’s menacing, ruthless, and psychotic personality shines through his performance.
Actors like Clark Gregg, Betsy Brandt, Dayo Okeniyi and Shohreh Aghdashloo appear briefly and fail to make an impact due to their limited screen time.
Positives
Run Sweetheart Run is an exhilarating watch in its first half. A simple date gone horribly wrong, and the man hunting the woman is an intriguing premise which is done right by the actors.
The suspense is spine chilling as you cannot guess what might happen next. The mystique behind Ethan’s intentions creates an added layer of tension.
The visual effects, CGI and the sound effects are done expertly. Since the blood is almost a character itself in the film, it was important to make scenes with it authentic.
Negatives
The film starts off well but loses its way in the second half. As more plot points are introduced, it turns into a preachy narrative about feminism and equality. The idea is a positive one, but the execution is too cringy and in your face.
The writing takes a lot of liberties to just move the plot forward, and is full of inconsistencies. For instance, Cherie shares her predicament with absolutely anyone to survive, but fails to open up to her ex-boyfriend, leading to a pointless argument that even gets on the viewers’ nerves.
As the film moves into mystical territory with angels and demons being involved, it completely ruins the initial atmosphere it creates. The third act is so tasteless and uninteresting as it feels like a completely different film.
This is followed by a unnecessary conversation against patriarchy being introduced in the final minutes of the film and is further marred by the overused trope of sunlight killing demons.
Verdict
Run Sweetheart Run has a very strong first half and could have been a brilliant film if it knew what it wanted to be. Had the makers grounded the narrative and stuck to the initial premise of a sexual predator hunting a woman, it would have had a much deeper impact.
There are tasteful ways of initiating conversations about patriarchy, feminism and other important topics, but blending them with an inconsistently written horror thriller is not one of them.
Run Sweetheart Run
Director: Shana Feste
Date Created: 2022-10-29 11:14
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