Product: Run, Lola, Run [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 5.0
The best and most original action film I've ever seen!
If you think that Lara Croft is the quintessential action star, then you obviously haven't met Lola. "Run Lola Run" is a masterpiece of action filmmaking that I loved. It is one of the best films of the year, and I will definitely buy it when it comes out on video. The film opens with a policeman/referee explaining the rules of a game. He dropkicks a soccer ball into the atmosphere, and the game begins with the ring of a telephone. Lola answers to find out that her boyfriend, Manni, is in trouble. He has left 100,000 marks on a subway train that has fallen into the hands of a homeless man. If he cannot get the money to the gangster he owes it to in twenty minutes, he will attempt a desperate, ill-fated robbery in order to keep from beng killed. With a scream from her throat and a toss of the bright red phone receiver, Lola is on the run, leaving her flame-red hair, her quick feet, and a pulsing techno soundtrack to carry the film the rest of the way. It is when she begins to run that I sat forward, eagerly awaiting the outcomes of her three separate journeys. Yes, Lola's odyssey transpires three times, each with a different outcome, and all because of one boy and his riled dog. Most of the film's elements remain the same: Lola meets the same people, runs under the same El-Train and always busts into her father's office at the bank while he's in the middle of a heart-to-heart talk with his mistress. As Lola meets the same people on the street, their lives are flashed before us in a series of snapshots, showing the different outcomes, all based on Lola's timing. Franka Potente plays Lola with the sort of perfect performance that most actresses wish they could pull off. Her screams always seem real and heartfelt, her tears in the confrontation with her father are real, and look of intensity that remains on Lola's face while she's on the run shows a very clear message: That Lola is a woman in love, and a woman on a mission. A mission that will be accompished at all costs. "Run Lola Run" is not only the best action film ever made, it is also one of my all-time favorites, and it sets a new standard that no one will be able to surpass.