This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
If you try to please everybody, somebody won't like it.
—corollary to Murphy's Law
Plot Overview
So, this goateed dude Levi Knight (Josiah David Warren) awakens from a troubled sleep dreaming eerie images of children in jeopardy. He's some kind of mystic, but his visions occur in dreams so as not to spook anyone he tells about them. He sleeps with the bedside lamp on. His fiancée Natalie Winters (Taylor Ashley Murphy) phones him nightly to see if he's okay. They're getting married in a week. They sleep in separate beds in separate houses in a faith-based movie.
Natalie is a TV journalist trying to expose human trafficking, which is a form of slavery. Since everybody is opposed to slavery, nobody will fault her opposition to it. We wouldn't want her to tackle something controversial, now would we?
In the week preceding their wedding,
the couple share with each other their life goals—stopping
trafficking—so we the audience know where they're coming from.
Ordinarily, at this point I'd say they should have been exploring
this and other important matters before deciding to get married, rather
than just getting to know each other physically. However, they
seem to have been admirably restrained, confining their physicality
to brotherly-sisterly hugs and hand holding. They don't seem to have
any money problems, either. They aren't distracted by future in-laws,
because his parents are dead and hers are in Africa starting an orphanage.
So what have they been doing with their time? Why, they've been focused
on their Christian discipleship figuring God would bring them
a suitable mate in his good time. And he has.
We see them in a flashback ice skating on a date, an activity few Christians will find objectionable, when they both decide simultaneously they want to marry each other, and they state so in unison. This eliminates any lopsided desires, which could lead to one pursuing the other against resistance to be overcome, in other words, courtship, which we're familiar with from other movies if not real life. Nothing off-putting is in this movie, oh no.
We don't hear the actual words of their wedding vows in their Protestant—they have a pastor, not a priest—ceremony, so we have no idea what denomination they are. Imagine what you like. She keeps her own name so as not to trouble the feminists. Their wedding dance is just the two of them clopping around the floor and he gives her one spin around and back, no big deal. The wedding music consists of the drab probing of strings so as not to rev them up for nuptial bliss ahead. On their honeymoon he has no problem delaying the inevitable to duck out to the car on an errand.
Danger awaits. The traffickers have decided to “take her” to teach her a lesson. She has obliged them by listing her wedding plans on-line. They do a quick snatch. Police procedure requires the cops wait 48 hours before devoting their limited resources to a missing person investigation. Then Nebreo's finest and the Texas Rangers will swing into action to reprise their good name. One would think that Levi would get Natalie's station to broadcast bulletins over the air, or that the criminals expecting it would have steered clear of high profile targets in the first place. Nope, Levi just plasters posters around town all by himself. Only his brother Paul (Matthew Roy) has his back. Okay. On the spiritual side he mangles a Bible verse—or flubs a line—(Isaiah 43:2) “When you pass through … the rivers, I shall overflow you,” which I fear means he is awash in those visions of his, which may or may not aid his search.
Ideology
Naturally the principals in this picture
practice prayer per, (Matt. 7:7)
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock,
and it shall be opened unto you.” Natalie asks for ultimate
deliverance, strength to endure her situation, and Christ's salvation
for her captors. Levi seeks his missing bride with God's help, “God,
please guide me. Show me where they're hiding Natalie.” He knocks
by asking those he meets if they've seen her. Something is bound
to shake loose, or at least it is hoped.
Prayer gets into high gear when Levi's grandmother who has been recuperating from surgery is informed of Natalie's plight. She ‘prays through’, as it were, with the confidence of someone who has experienced God's answers to prayer in the past.
Production Values
“” (2017) was directed by Josiah David Warren. The story was written by Sun Hui East. It stars Josiah David Warren, Taylor Murphy, and Chloe Hurst. Let's face it, this is no Hollywood blockbuster that could afford the best talent, nor is there the demand for faith-based entertainment that would guarantee a big bank loan. The actors they got did their best at about the level of a high school drama presentation. The one exception is Stephen Baldwin a real actor who was strong in his role playing a pimp and mid-level manager.
“Run” received the Family Approval Seal by the Dove Foundation. There are a couple added messages shown along with the end titles concerning the dangers to children these days.
Review Conclusion w/ Christian Recommendation
The trouble with formulaic movies is if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Nevertheless, it is impossible not to be moved by depictions of the wonderful works of God. Give us more of these. Other characters were helped or saved in the process. Of course, there is necessarily the offense of the Gospel to those hiding from the light, but great pains were taken not to add more to the offense. It is what it is.
Movie Ratings
Action Factor: Weak action scenes. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children of 12+ years. Special effects: Well, at least you can't see the strings. Video Occasion: Good for Family Groups. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Three stars out of five.
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