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Cast: Sean Faris, Danny Dyer, Rebecca Da Costa, Tamer Hassan, Amanda Fuller, Seymour Cassel
Ryan, a freerunner who will do whatever it takes to break free from Reese (Tamer Hassan, Kick-Ass), a mobster who controls a band of street racers. They run for the rush and for the money, but now they are running for their lives in the ultimate death race. With exploding collars locked around their necks, they have just one hour to make it across town all for the amusement of Mr. Frank (Danny Dyer) and a betting organization with stakes on who will live and who will die. First place gets $1 million. There is no second place and time is running out for Ryan to save himself and rescue his kidnapped girlfriend.
Right from the start there's a much of running and jumping around as we are introduced to the known as freerunning or parkour. The story is about as simple as you can get and the characters are not really fleshed out except the character of Ryan who is the film's main focus. I thought the first half hour of the film was a bit boring to be honest even with all the running around, after the group is tricked and knocked out they wake with these exploding collars on which is where the story gets a bit better.
The story follows Ryan, one of the runners who works mopping floors in a hospital and cares for his bed ridden grandfather. Ryan, who lost the last race, and has never beaten Finch decides to go against the rules and bet on himself using a shill so he can make that big score and move to the beach with his girlfriend and grandfather. Like I said the story is pretty simple, maybe too simple but it does toss in a few twists as it moves along which does make it a bit more entertaining.
"Freerunner" is a moderately entertaining film that could of been much better if it had a better story to go along with all the athleticism going on but it never gets there, it's never suspenseful or thrilling like it should be, you never really care if most of the characters live or die because the story never introduces them properly. I mildly enjoyed the film, even it's predictable outcome. "Freerunner" is a "B" action film and nothing more so don't expect anything ground-breaking here, instead leave your brain at the door and just sit back and enjoy what's going on instead of thinking too much. The film could of been much better that's for sure but I have seen worse as well, if you like action then I recommend picking it up.
The main cast including Sean Faris, Danny Dyer and Rebecca Da Costa all give good performances and the supporting cast were all good as well. A decent action film that should please most fans of the genre, the film's biggest attribute is it's energy and it brings plenty of it.
Available on DVD and Blu-ray, both come with Special Features that include:
Behind the scenes, outtakes and bloopers
Over the rooftops and behind the scenes
Freerunner stunts, fights and effects
Playing ninja
Parkour/freerunning
Freerunner trailer
Released by Image Entertainment
You can order the DVD HERE and the Blu-ray HERE.
** 1/2 Out Of *****