Run Lola Run - 4K Blu-ray Review

Movie
Oh man, as an 80s born kid who grew up in his teens during the 1990s, the 90s were an AWESOME year for films. Especially 1998 and 1999 when there was a literal metric ton of of great films coming out. Back in 1999 when Run Lola Run hit the American market, we were awash was awesome films come out that year. The 6th Sense, Fight Club, The Matrix, The Mummy. You seriously couldn’t throw a stone during any particular month and NOT hit a soon to be massive hit. I was 17 years old and remember being dragged by a high school senior friend who was obsessed with foreign language films to the local AMC to see Run Lola Run. At that point in my cinematic viewing experience the only foreign language films that I would subject myself to were Hong Kong action flicks (I few up obsessing over martial arts flicks from a young age), but I gave it a go anyways. Especially since he was paying. Lo and behold I came out absolutely blown away with the kinetic flick and it soon became one of my favorite “watch once a year” films till at least the last 2010s. I mean, I’ve owned it on DVD, the German collector’s edition DVD, Blu-ray, and FINALLY I’ve acquired it on 4K UHD.

Previously the only way to get the film on 4K domestically was to get the gigantic Sony 30th anniversary 4K film collection, and I missed grabbing that when it released back in 2022. But like most of the Columbia classics sets, or this h30th anniversary set, Sony is one by one releasing the films individually to enjoy, and I think the very first one from the 30th anniversary set is Run Lola Run.

Run Lola Run is a fairly bizarre and strangely light on plot adventure flick. The plot follows Lola (Franka Potente, who is most notable for playing Marie in the first two Bourne films) as she tries to save her clumsy boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) from certain doom at the hand of his criminal associate. Seems like Manni was given the task of transporting some illicit funds (100,000 francs to be precise) to a drop location, only for a series of missteps to leave him holding nothing but an empty bag thanks to Lola not being their on time to pick him up. Now Lola has 20 minutes to get help out Manni and get the 100,000 back before his “boss” decides to make him into fish food.

The story of Run Lola Run is not really the big pull for watching it, but rather HOW the story is told. The film takes on a fragmented “choose your own adventure” layer of story telling, showing us 20 minute segments as Lola imagines (and we live out her imaginations in real time) different scenarios that she can undergo to get the cash quick. First up is a trip to her rich father to get funds, another involves robbing her dad’s office, a third gambling it to get a quick fix and so on and so forth. Each time a scenario ends badly in her head the viewer is catapulted to the very moment where she gets off the phone with Manni and we start a whole new adventure as the young girl desperately looks for the best way to fix things for her boyfriend.

Self proclaimed as a “post MTV generation film” we quickly see what the film makers meant by that. I guess “post MTV” meant everything is hyper frenetic, with Paul Greengrass style quick cuts and edits, and each scene feeling like they were taken from a neurotic Tik Tok video and spliced together for people with ADHD, or those with the attention spans of hamsters. However it somehow actually works, and this coming from a curmudgeonly old reviewer who hates how grunge took over for hair metal, and how Paul Greengrass and his quick cutting Bourne movies basically ruined Hollywood action films for the better part of 10-15 years. Run Lola Run is fast paced, and really is sold by the intensity and sweetness that Franka Potente showcases on screen. The story itself is extremely minmalistic, but it makes up for it with the intensity, as well as a cool little habit of showing a montage of future events for each of the characters that Lola runs into in each of her scenarios, constantly changing depending on what choice Lola makes.



Rating:

Rated R for some violence and language




4K Video: Video:

This disc is quite literally the exact same disc as the 30th anniversary Sony collection disc 2 years ago, which means it is one heck of a picture to enjoy. This is about as perfect as I’ve ever seen Run Lola Run look, despite having a really bizarre look and feel to it. The film alternates between 35mm film shots, handicam video camera look, and some MTV era hand drawn animation throughout, so quality of the actual film source will vary slightly. The 35mm stock look is quite handsome, with a clean and clear image that is slightly yellowed (an overall aesthetic that is talked about in one of the commentaries) but overall really crisp and clean looking. There’s no artifacting that I can see, and black levels are quite impressive. The dulled handicam video looking shots are very distorted and grungy looking on purpose, with amplified grain layers and a sort of dirty “home movie” look to it that the regular film is in stark contrast to. Animated shots looks clean and clear as well, through the animation style doesn’t lend itself to stunning layers of visual detail levels. At the end of the day though, this is about as perfect as the film is going to look, and Sony does a bang up job keeping a really high bitrate throughout the whole process. Well done Sony.








Audio:

Now, I while I’m going to say that “Sony simply took the existing 5.1 mix from the old Blu-ray and put it on the 4K UHD disc” let me get rid of that “ahhhhktually” moment out of the mix. Yes, the original mix was 5.1 Dolby TrueHD on Blu-ray, and this is 5.1 DTS-HD MA on 4K. That being said, it is 99% probability a simple re-encode using a DTS wrapper instead of Dolby, as I really can’t tell any difference between the two tracks outside of a very slight level matching issue between the two tracks (seriously, 1.5 DB at most). That out of the way, this is still a very fun track, full of a lot of surround usage due to the crazy frenetic nature of Lola running down busy German streets, full of car crashes, screams and general hubbub from the score. Dialog is crisp and clear as a bell, and the techno pulsing rythmatic score is really vibrant and full all the way around. Bass is solid, thought never exactly over the top intense, and while it does everything well, it just isn’t as exciting as it COULD be due to the fact that this whole thing was shot on a shoestring budget (which is not a knock against the film or it’s audio mix. There’s just a difference between this and say some mega blockbuster action film from Hollywood. It is what it is).







Extras:

• Audio Commentary with Director Tom Tykwer and Actor Franka Potente
• Audio Commentary with Director Tom Tykwer and Editor Mathilde Bonnefoy
• Making-Of Featurette
• Still Running Featurette
• "Believe" Music Video
• Theatrical Trailer














Run Lola Run has been a cult favorite for the better part of 25 years, and I’m really glad it’s finally available in 4K UHD for those who don’t want to spend $150 on the 30th anniversary box set. It’s a great looking 4K transfer, a solid 5.1 DTS-HD MA track from the Blu-ray days, and while the extras are kinda middling, it’s an all around solid package for a great movie. Definitely pick it up.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup, Nina Petri
Directed by: Tom Tykwer
Written by: Tom Tykwer
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: German: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English, Spanish DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, English, Spanish
Studio: Sony
Rated: R
Runtime: 80 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: July 30th, 2024