Movie Review: YOU CAN’T RUN FOREVER

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: May 17th, 2024 / 02:14 AM

YOU CANT RUN FOREVER movie poster | ©2024 Lionsgate

Rating: R
Stars: J.K. Simmons, Fernanda Urrejola, Isabelle Anaya, Allen Leech, Graham Patrick Martin, Andres Velez, Olivia Simmons, Kevin Quinn
Writers: Carolyn Carpenter, Michelle Schumacher
Director: Michelle Schumacher
Distributor: Lionsgate
Release Date: May 17, 2024

There are few things that are certain in life or in cinema. However, something we can all depend on is that if J.K. Simmons is playing a character, we will believe him completely. Therefore, it stands to reason that if Simmons is playing a terrifying psychopath, we will be duly frightened.

This is a key strength of YOU CAN’T RUN FOREVER. Directed by Michelle Schumacher and written by Schumacher and Carolyn Carpenter, YOU CAN’T RUN FOREVER is an engaging, sometimes shocking thriller with lots of cool little details and surprises. However, it all might roll downhill without Simmons propelling the action.

We open on a vista of a mountainous green wilderness (the movie was shot in Montana). A helmeted motorcyclist is driving along the winding road.

The cyclist pulls over at a gas station/convenience shop and removes his helmet, revealing the face of Wade (Simmons), who seems calm and jovial enough. Three people at the station are arguing, loudly and obnoxiously. Wade shoots all of them. The last asks, “Why are you doing this?” “Does it matter?” Wade replies before killing the man. Unconcerned, he leaves two unharmed witnesses (plus a Chihuahua) behind.

We eventually do get an answer to the question of why Wade is doing this. “Does it matter?” is obviously one of those giant existential queries, but for the purposes of a commercial movie, the answer is “yes,” and it suits what’s happening without being over-explanatory.

Extremely pregnant Jenny (Fernanda Urrejola) and husband Eddie (Allen Leech) are expecting their new baby son any day now. Jenny’s teen daughter by a previous marriage, Miranda (Isabelle Anaya), has to be handled with care, as she is still suffering from an emotional trauma (we’ll eventually learn about this as well). Eddie’s college student daughter Emily (Olivia Simmons) from his earlier marriage is about to arrive for an extended stay to help out with the infant.

Eddie and Miranda, on their way to pick up a bassinet, cross paths at a rest stop with Wade.

What happens next both is and isn’t what we might expect. The specifics of the nearest sheriff’s station are especially intriguing, with Graham Patrick Martin and Andres Velez admirably naturalistic as a pair of young deputies who are way out of their depth.

Urrejola has passion and force, and Anaya easily gains our empathy. Leech handily portrays a man of good intentions unsure how to support an unstable newcomer to his family.

But it’s Simmons who really powers YOU CAN’T RUN FOREVER, making such an impression when he’s onscreen that we understand why Wade instills such panic even when he’s nowhere to be seen.

The filmmakers make the most of the forest scenery, so that there’s no telling what’s around the next tree or rock. The lighting of night scenes also considers sources of illumination, so that we can see but don’t question why this is possible.

YOU CAN’T RUN FOREVER takes a familiar framework and fills it out admirably.

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