'Run' Movie Review

Introduction

They say "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer". For 17 years, Chloe had no choice - she had to live with the enemy. But soon enough, Chloe lives by this saying.

Key themes

A premature, new-born baby is in the ICU, receiving life-saving treatment in order to survive.

Diane is at a 'home-schooling' parents meeting. Out of all the parents there, Diane is the only one excited to see her daughter go to actual school.

Diane goes through a normal day with her differently-abled daughter, Chloe. Chloe anxiously waits daily for the postal services to see if she has a college acceptance letter.

When Diane comes back from the shops, Chloe quickly sneaks some chocolates (which she is not allowed to, due to her diabetes). She notices a new medicine drug bottle with her mother's name on it.

Later that night, Diane gives Chloe the new drug to take and Chloe is confused, assuming the drugs were for her mother. Diane lies and says that her name was 'on the receipt' and they 'wrap the receipt around the bottle'.

Chloe remains suspicious of the drugs and takes them from the medicine cabinet. She looks at the bottle again and sees her name on it. She peels back the label to see the original one with her mother's name.

Chloe notices the postal service leaving and rushes to go check the mail, but her mother beats her to it. Chloe notices that Diane left her car running, door open and hazards lights on - Diane rushed to collect the mail.

Chloe pretends to take the drugs but spits it out after her mother leaves. Late in the night, Chloe goes to search the new drug but the 'internet is disabled'.

The next morning, Diane tells Chloe that the internet will not be fixed for a while.

Chloe, desperate to find out what the drug is, decides to call the pharmacy to find out what the drug is. The pharmacy recognises the number so Chloe hangs up.

Chloe ends up dialing a random number to ask the person to look up the name and colour of the drug. The drug is for heart failure and arrhythmias and the colour of the pill is red. The pill Chloe takes is green.

Chloe asks to go and 'see a movie'. She grabs the green pills she has been spitting out. During the film, Chloe says she needs to go to the toilet.

During her 'toilet break', Chloe leaves the movie theatre and goes across the street to the pharmacy. She askes the pharmacist to tell her what the drug is.

Chloe finds out the drug is dog medicine, used to relieve and relax muscles. Diane shows up at the pharmacy and injects something into Chloe's leg to make her lose consciousness.

Diane, on the phone, begs the pharmacist to tell Chloe that she is not taking dog medication and even if she was; it is not harmful. Diane looks up how to make at-home neurotoxins.

When Chloe regains consciousness, she finds herself trapped in her room, unable to unlock the door. She escapes through her window. Chloe crawls on the roof and crawls in through her mother's bedroom window.

Chloe discovers that Diane has cut the electrical sources to the phone, the stair lift etc. Chloe pushes her wheelchair down the stairs and stumbles down the stairs also. She hits the floor hard but notices she can move her toes a little (she is paralyzed in both legs).

Chloe gets back into her wheelchair and rolls away. She sees the postal services and stops suddenly in front of the vehicle.

Luckily, the vehicle stopped in time without hitting Chloe. Chloe tells the postman that her mother hurt her. When he is about to take Chloe to the hospital, Diane arrives.

Diane tries to convince the postman that Chloe is unstable, she then tries to insinuate that it could be believe that he abused a minor and threatened to call the police.

Regardless, the postman won't let Diane see Chloe and insists on taking Chloe to the hospital himself. Diane asks if she can follow behind. He agrees.

The postman goes to ask Chloe if she wants him to take her to the hospital or the police. Chloe chooses police.

When the postman is talking to Chloe, about to close the door, Diane injects him, making him lose consciousness.

Chloe wakes up in the basement, chained to a table. She sees a mixture her mother is making in a pot and notices letters, from colleges she applied to, opened. Chloe finds out that she got accepted into her desired college.

Chloe then finds a box with evidence showing that Diane is not her mother. Diane stole Chloe from the hospital after her own child died.

Chloe discovers that she was not differently-abled from birth, but she was disease-inflicted by Diane. Diane claims she was doing everything to 'protect Chloe'.

Regardless, Chloe doesn't believe Diane. Diane askes if they can 'start over', Chloe refuses. Diane gets annoyed and goes back to her mixture. She extracts the mixture into a needle. Diane proceeds to inject Chloe; Chloe crawls and locks herself into a room.

In the room, Chloe notices there are pesticides and chemicals. When Diane finally gets into the locked room, Chloe drinks a chemical.

Chloe wakes up in the hospital. She is stable but the doctors are worried about her suicide attempt.

While resting, there is a sudden 'code blue'. All the nurses and doctors run to the emergency. Chloe is left alone. At that moment, Diane comes and unplugs Chloe. She attempts to leave the hospital with Chloe.

The nurse returns to Chloe's room to find her missing. She reads the word Chloe wrote on a notepad - 'Mom'.

A security alert is set up to find Chloe. Diane, with a gun in her hand, is found. She is shot in the arm and falls down some stairs.

Years later, Chloe is married and has a child. Chloe visits the mental institution where Diana is at.

Chloe updates Diane about her life. When the visit is almost over, Chloe spits out the drugs she has been hiding in her mouth.

The drugs keep Diane paralysed.

Key observations and questions

• Even though Chloe was becoming suspicious of her mother, she still told her Diane the truth (mostly) on two accounts. That represents their bond and level of trust.
• Diane re-labelled the 'dog medicine - Ribotoxin' as 'heart failure and arrhythmias medicine - Trigoxin'. After Chloe saw Diane's name on it and questioned it, Diane put a new label over the top with Chloe's name on it. Chloe was able to peel this back to see the other label with Diane's name. Why didn't Diane take off the label before putting the new one? Perhaps, Diane use an old medicine bottle and put the dog medicine inside - then why would the medicine and superscription be in her name? This is truly a labelling fiasco!
• Chloe broke a window using a scientific technique. Chloe is intelligent, however, she had limited access to the internet and did not have a phone. That scientific method of breaking a window is not taught in school textbooks. How did she know to do that?
• Chloe was able to regain sensitivity in her feet. As we discover, Chloe's paralysis was inflicted by Diane, however, after years of having relaxed muscles, not using her legs and being a wheelchair, it's practically impossible for her to regain sensitivity all of a sudden especially, since she fell down the stairs.
• Chloe had trusted and relied on Diane for all of her life, how is it possible that seeing a drug with her mother's name on it, would lead her to losing trust in Diane all-together? This 'trigger' is exaggerated.

Conclusion

'Run' is a chilling film. The story starts with a mother doing the best for her differently able daughter and ends with the daughter 'treating’ her mother as she was treated.

The film was definitely a thriller especially when we discovered that not only is Chloe not Diane's biological child, but Chloe was not disabled from birth. However, that was where the thriller ended and the questioning started.

I do not believe Diane to be a psychopath as she was clearly presented to be. At the time of pregnancy and birth, Diane was alone - there were no signs of her child's father, even Diane's friends and family were not present. Birthing as a single and alone woman is tough. Then her child is born premature and is unstable. After all the attempt to work against the complications, Diane's child dies - and she witnesses it. All of that is enough to trigger something. So Diane steals a baby, because it's the only thing that can make her feel whole again.

Chloe grows up happy and healthy and they live a good life together. I believe that's what Diane wanted; she just wanted a child to take care of. So why then did she purposely disable Chloe? Chloe's complications were not simple - asthma, diabetes, paralysis, irregular heart beating, sore and rashy skin. It would take a lot of research to find toxins and necessary chemicals or drugs to inflict these illnesses. This indicates that Diane is seriously unstable that she would go out of her way to do that. The question remains why - why would she do that. Diane just wanted a happy healthy daughter, why would she change that?

Chloe as a character was flawed in some aspects. She was homeschooled, her best and only friend was her mother and she stayed at home most of her life. Yet, Chloe was street-smart; she knew how to talk to people, she knew how to get around and she knew how to 'think quick on her feet'. This is an ability you gain by going out and from social interaction. How did Chloe gain this skill?

Overall, the ending was definitely surprising; Chloe got the opportunity to give Diane Diane's version of a 'motherly treatment'. The story as a whole had a lot of loop holes but is relatively enjoyable and emphasises (to an extreme extent) that 'a mother's love for a child is stronger than all'.

Cast

Sarah Paulson - Diane Sherman

Kiera Allen - Chloe Sherman