Cat Run (2011)

Simply Perfect

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Anthony has done his best to distance himself from his family. He even moved out of the U.S. and opened a restaurant on another continent. Business wound up kind of sucking and when his best friend finds him and gives him the idea to start a detective agency he folds. Their first case, though, takes them further into danger than they ever expected.I hate the word "derivative." In fact, the only time you'll ever see it used in one of my reviews is when I'm making fun of it. Why? Well, when a critic uses the word to describe a movie, they're basically just saying that the film was imitating another one. In a lot of cases, I find that it's less imitation and more inspiration. I mean, directors grow up watching movies and honed their styles in the memory of their favorites, right? So almost every one of them has been inspired by something someone else made. If a critic simply means the movie is cookie cutter or unimaginative – then they should just say that. I feel like it's just a word those people use to sound more elitist.Cat Run was not well liked by critics. I think the lot of them were watching the wrong movie or something, because I thought the film was hilarious. There's a lot of sex and nudity, but considering the main plot it makes sense for there to be a lot of sexuality. There was also the buddy- detective aspect because of the two main characters. Most of Cat Run actually seemed like an episode of Psyche with different actors. It did have some relatively original parts, though, and I thought the characters came alive through the actors. There were some plot holes. The only one that I can mention without adding a spoiler alert, however, is that it's never explained why Anthony has such superior observation skills (his skills are revealed roughly 10 minutes into the movie). I would have liked to know the story behind it.

...which is a good thing as its the most compelling part of this 1 hour 40 minute plus borefest. Catch that bit and then move on to something else. IMDb requires ten lines of text so I'll take the rest of this space to write as much as I know about owls. I generally like owls though I rarely see them in the wild. There are white owls, and brown owls, blue owls and red owls. Some owls are large, others are smallish - but not so small as to be a hummingbird. If I could be reincarnated as a bird I think an owl would be near the top of my list, but it would not be as preferable as an eagle, or a hawk, or a jay..... Overall owls are around an 8 out of 10 as far as my bird rankings go. Cat Run as a film however would be about a 3 out of 10. Montenegro seems like a very nice spot to take a vacation....

11 years ago, director John Stockwell impressed me very much with the film Crazy/Beautiful, but his following movies were very far from reaching that level, such as Cat Run, which I consider (with the exception of the deplorable Into the Blue) his worst film so far. This is a pity, because I think that Stockwell is a solid director who (with the exception of Crazy/Beautiful) hasn't found a project which fully exploits his talent; and after having watched Cat Run, it's evident that the same thing keeps happening.Cat Run pretended to emulate the style made popular by director Guy Ritchie in the films Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Stockwell employed the well-known techniques of quick edition, freeze frame, split screen and animated transitions. However, those tricks feel false, like if Stockwell forcedly introduced them after the shooting, contradicting the general tone from the narrative. Having said that, I understand why he did that...the screenplay lacks of any flow or excitement, and its lazy structure takes us from one scene to another without any enthusiasm or energy. However, the stylish aspects Stockwell added to the film didn't avoid it from being boring, mainly because of the screenplay.Paz Vega is a talented actress, but the character she plays is totally flat and passive. She isn't even a "damsel in danger"; she's just the screenplay's "mcguffin"...that thing which generates conflict because everyone wants to find it. The villains are forgettable clichés; and the duet of North American "heroes" are hateful because of how poorly written they are and the atrocious performances from Scott Mechlowicz and Alphonso McAuley in those roles.Even though Cat Run was a tedious experience, it has one element I liked very much...Janet McTeer's performance. I guess Helen Mirren rejected to play the character of the British efficient killer, and McTeer took advantage of the opportunity in order to bring a brilliant performance. In spite of that, I didn't like Cat Run, mainly because of the bad screenplay and its abundance of irritating characters.

This movie is a pretty graphic example of modern grind-house cinema: It's misanthropic, misogynistic, obnoxiously sadistic and gross. However, it has the moral reserve of not taking itself too seriously, reaching its highlights in scenes plenty of tasteless humor. Even the promos are slightly deceitful as the main storyline has much less to do with the female lead, Catalina "Cat" Rona (The once-promising Spanish actress Paz Vega) than a couple of unlucky globe trotters (Scott Mechlowicz and Alphonso McAuley), both involved into a merciless pursuit across Europe. In fact, "Cat" is far from the image of the female hero and she actually plays her part as a vulnerable, rather passive woman in peril which only serves as main prize to a bunch of soulless thugs.Perhaps the most (or should I have to say, the only) memorable and well developed character in this gallery of grotesque is the strict mannered and cold-blooded British assassin portrayed by Janet McTeer, who plays a role as fun and weird as can be a cross between Mary Poppins and Terminator, but capable of humanity when the tide turns and the plot demands her to change her side. Very consistent and congruent to the exploitative spirit which drives the insane storyline, there is a large amount of nudity and violence against women, and some torture scenes definitely not for the squeamish."Cat Run" it's a violent buddy movie and adventure flick, more in tune to dark and grim movies like "Taken" and "Hostel", where the sense of thrill seems to come in direct proportion to the lack of humanity, and the result it still is enjoyable to anyone who enjoys falling downstairs. Yes, that painful.