The major attraction of this simple horror-thriller, which isn’t as scary or exciting as one might think, is veteran actor JK Simmons (Whiplash). Simmons portrays Wade, a ruthless assassin on a murderous rampage who opens the proceedings by murdering a few unidentified individuals at a gas station. Among them, one queries, “Why are you doing this?Wade answers, “Is it significant?As most of these films are about the thrill of the chase and nobody really cares why the killer is a killer, this could have stood up as an intriguing moment of frank nihilistic confession on behalf of a movie genre that loves to invent motivations for maniacs when it probably doesn’t need to bother. It’s unfortunate that this specific example isn’t as exciting as it could be.
The scenario is promising; aside from Wade, our primary characters are a pregnant mother balancing her daughter’s trauma and the approaching arrival of a new baby, a disturbed adolescent with a tragic past, and a well-meaning stepfather seeking to contribute to his new family’s cohesiveness. And Wade does everything well when it comes to presenting a convincing cinematic murder: he kills without hesitation, rides a motorcycle akin to a Terminator while sporting sunglasses akin to a Terminator, is tenacious and goal-oriented, and has a spooky aura.
Simmons faithfully completes the playbook and dedicates himself to the part, but strangely, for a movie that revolves around predatory chase, it lacks the excitement and forward drive that would have elevated it. Even the violence feels a little cheesy, more so in terms of the production than the performers’ sincerity. A few good concepts are presented here: although we don’t entirely understand our main character, Miranda (Fernanda Urrejola), taking magic mushrooms in the middle of her chase, the journey that follows offers some variation. However, the film loses its direction in the second half when it chooses to explore Wade’s past; what happened to “Does it matter?”
UK digital outlets will start to carry You Can’t Run Forever on May 27.
