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Sorry, this movie sucks

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I loved it. Simple and economic storytelling, The Runner moves forward with a constant, adrenaline-fuelled momentum. It's thrilling without resorting to action film clichés. The film is always in the present, we're right there with him. The camera style and movement is compelling and tied so close to our lead we can't see another perspective. He's a great anti-hero. It's a survival film, the lead character (superbly played) can't stop, he keeps moving forward like an untamed animal, acting in the only way he knows how. And I appreciate the filmmaker's restraint in not revealing every little motivation he has. This is based on a true story, which I wasn't aware of going into it, clearly the filmmaker understood the essence of the character was most important, not every minute detail, and I feel that's captured and conveyed brilliantly. I'm looking forward to checking out his other films

Whenever the movie or a TV show is based on real events or people, its a slippery slope. There is that pesky,annoying difference between the movie and real life. In real life one encounters all kinds of people, makes little contact with them and continues his own way. In the movie, alas, we need much more. The true story based on the marathon runner with a penchant for robbing banks, sounds very original and interesting.The trouble is that Johannn, the lead character stays completely unknown to us by the end of the movie. We have no idea what makes him tick, what his motives are. His stony, stoic expression doesn't give away much. He keeps running and by the end of the movie, I felt the same, albeit running away from the TV set.

I could easily have given this film an 8 or 9 if the writer/director Heisenberg had come up with an original fictionalized story. But he didn't. Instead he took a series of historically real events dealing with an Austrian named Johann Kastenberger, who not only was a long distance runner of note in his country but was as well a compulsive bank robber. He then sanitized the story of this vicious sociopath, who not only murdered one person (and not his annoying parole officer by the way) but is suspected of murdering 3 others. If this movie had been based on fiction then my high rating would be made by the fact that I have never been so engrossed by such a minimalist movie. All of the aesthetic choices Kastenberger made that support existential minimalism are pitch perfect. Fellow reader, make the effort and read the history of Johann Kastenberger. Heisenberg clearly didn't want to make yet another movie about a compulsive and cruel robber/murderer so he took the real character and subtracted virtually all the idiosyncratic elements of Kastenberger's persona to give us the enigma in the film. Too bad cause Heisenberg clearly knows how to use all the crafts a director needs to make visually fascinating movies.

(If you want a summary of the film, read anybody else here.) Despite the activities shown, the film abounds in "still waters." The presentation of activities and the principal character sticks solely to the surface without any explanations. The film is enigmatic and compelling, perhaps even boring to some. Any people seeing this together will have much to discuss afterwards.Anyone seeing it will come in knowing the robber is a runner since that is the basis for all the advertising. I'm no runner and usually not very interested but this was especially fascinating. The actor Lust portrays the title character in a beautifully minimalist performance and also gives the footwork a distinctive style. I don't know if it would win races but it sure works in this film.Acting and all aspects of the filmmaking are excellent overall. Even the music for the end credits is good for emerging from the deep waters.