![]() ![]() “What we provide here is an education, a way of life… and me, I’m the headmaster,” Sway says of his band of tiny Robin Hood-wannabes. (Un)luckily for him, Peaches (Kylie Rogers) introduces Oscar to her “family of broken toys:” a group of abandoned children who roam the streets, thieving and mugging for their “masters,” Sway (Mark Boone Junior) and “big poppa” Birdie ( Ron Perlman). The boy runs off to the Big City and soon gets locked up. ![]() Oscar simply cannot stand the abuse that his friend Loux (Madilyn Kellam) takes from her dad, so one night, Oscar kills the sad hick with a searing-hot fireplace poker. ![]() Young Oscar (Mitchell Paulsen) lives happily under the tutelage of his father Augustus (William Forsythe). Instead, it comes off as a lunkheaded exercise in self-aggrandizing mental masturbation. On all accounts, filmmaker John Swab’s gratuitous and grave Run with the Hunted fails to live up to the promise of its premise. A cinematic treatise on the genesis of said reality, a heartfelt and visceral study of these children through the eyes of a compelling protagonist, would undoubtedly be welcome. It doesn’t just happen in Russia, of course – it’s a sad reality in most countries. Without parental guidance, left to their own devices, those young, lost souls roam the streets, following their worst impulses. I have witnessed a gang of 10-to-14-year-olds mercilessly attack and rob a couple in a Russian subway. ![]() In fact, at one point Birdie makes taking what you want seem like an act of self-actualization.Children are impressionable, susceptible to influence, easy to manipulate. While there's plenty to be said about why people may resort to crime when they lack other options, the movie never broaches that subject. Even when one of them shoots a man during a robbery gone wrong, the worst consequence he faces is being kicked out of the gang. It never questions the morality of the situation, if anything it makes being a teenage thief look fun. The lack of consequences also means the movie seems to tacitly endorse the idea that a life of crime is a good option for these kids. This makes Oscar’s circumstances lack weight and feel emotionally hollow. Not only does no one ever get in trouble with the law, they never seem to suffer much psychologically either. While the movie’s plot doesn’t make a lot of sense, its biggest weakness is there are no real consequences for the various criminal acts shown in the movie. This leads to a moment late in the movie between Oscar and Peaches that comes completely out of left field, and results in an open-ended coda that doesn’t seem to have much of a point. It’s at this point that the adult Loux (Sam Quartin) and her brother (Gore Abrams) come looking for Oscar, upending the balance of his existence. He seems to want to give the boys he’s training to rob and steal a better life of camaraderie and family, but the movie never questions his methods, even as he puts guns in their hands and takes them to hold up stores full of people. He’s also still with Peaches (now played by Dree Hemingway) and answering to Birdie. He now runs his own gang of teen thieves, who he predictably refers to as the Lost Boys. Yet, it seems Oscar’s new life continues unhindered, and halfway through the movie, the action jumps forward 15 years and Michael Pitt takes over the role of Oscar. Plus, given the life of crime he’s fallen into, it seems implausible that he’s never been arrested at least once, giving law enforcement an opportunity to discover who he is. He’s gone to a nearby city and stayed there. And it doesn’t seem like it would’ve been especially hard to find him. The dirty cop could be responsible for keeping the authorities away, but it’s hard to imagine his family never searched for him. Ultimately though, it doesn’t really seem like anyone’s looking for Oscar. ![]()
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