Review: Run, Hide, Fight Could’ve Been Good…(Spoilers)

On Monday, I talked about my concerns regarding Dailywire’s newest project, Run, Hide, Fight: Infidel. From the trailer and plot synopsis, if done right, it could be a good movie that helps people understand how dangerous Islam is when taken to its logical conclusion.

But that’s only if it’s done right.

From everything I’ve seen so far, Run, Hide, Fight: Infidel looks like it could do more damage when it comes to showing people how evil Islam is than good. Even if it doesn’t necessarily damage that, if it’s poorly executed overall and is as mediocre as some of Dailywire’s other projects, then fewer people will take it seriously.

Unfortunately for this movie, it will probably be as mediocre as Dailywire’s other projects, given that Run, Hide, Fight: Infidel is directed by the same dude who directed the original Run, Hide, Fight.

Now, I understand that some people liked this movie, and many looked forward to it, since Run, Hide, Fight was the Dailywire’s first movie. However, after watching it, while it was an okay movie for the first two acts, the end completely ruined it.

To sum up the movie, Run, Hide, Fight follows Zoe Hall, a high school senior who has recently lost her mother. She’s at school when a van crashes through the side of the cafeteria and her classmates are held hostage by the armed students. Zoe manages to escape and runs around the school, trying to get as many students out as possible and stop the gunmen from carrying out their plot to blow up the school, all while also trying not to get killed.

Though the plot of the movie was good and it did a good job of getting you invested in it, it had three huge problems. The first issue was that Zoe is largely unlikeable. At the beginning of the movie she is brooding, angry, and generally not someone you would want to hang out with. Some of this is explained by the death of her mother, but it still doesn’t excuse her behavior, especially since she doesn’t get better. Her entire character arc goes from angsty, brooding, grieving teen, to selfless hero, and back to angsty, brooding, teen who just shot someone in cold blood.

That leads me to the second huge issue with this movie: the ending. At the end of the movie, the main orchestrator of the school shooting manages to escape getting caught and runs off into the woods, where he has a passport, ID, and money stored for his big getaway. Zoe sees him trying to run away, gets her dad’s hunting rifle, and shoots him as he’s getting his stuff. As though that wasn’t bad enough, she intentionally shot him in an area where he wouldn’t die immediately. She even explains this to him, that because of where he was shot, he will die a slow death as his lungs fill with blood and leaves him to die.

While I could understand this ending to some degree, it was generally a bad narrative choice. For one thing, it ruins Zoe’s entire character arc as she – like I said earlier – goes back to being angsty and brooding. For a second thing, it makes her almost as bad as the story’s villains. Sure, it’s somewhat poetic, but leaving the dude to die a horrible death in cold blood felt unnecessary.

Then, there’s the third problem, which is the massive plot hole that pervades the entire movie. Where are all the security cameras? It takes a good bit of time before the school confirms that there’s a shooter/hostage situation in the cafeteria, and it takes Zoe’s efforts for anyone to realize what’s happening. It shouldn’t be that slow given how pervasive security cameras are in schools. It really makes you wonder how incompetent some of the teachers and faculty are in this movie.

Until next time,

M.J.