On the Run (2004)

This starts out as an effective crime drama. What the fuck happened to writer/director Lucas Belvaux's focus, then? Belvaux's low-budget visuals are consistently effective, and the decision to cast himself in the lead turns out to not be disastrous. And, for a while, he manages to keep things humming along nicely. Somewhere along the way, though, he plum forgets where he's going with this. He casts about here and there for a new direction in which to sprint, thus destroying his film's momentum, and the path he eventually chooses leads him to the most brow-furrowingly random and ludicrous place one could imagine. (I mean, seriously. What the fuck is up with this movie's last ten minutes?) I'm can't say I'm all that excited about the other two entries in this trilogy.

Grade: C+