Run Lola Run: Movie, DVD, Blu-ray Review (2008)

If the infectious energy of Tom Tykwer’s “Run Lola Run” doesn’t make audiences break into a cold sweat, they may need to have their pulses checked.

This film is great fun, one of the year’s runaway best, a smashing, kinetic rush of style ignited with an electrified plot that may recall “Sliding Doors” and “Go,” but which nevertheless is fiercely original; indeed, it uses a nonstop techno soundtrack and periods of clever animation to help propel it well into the stratosphere.

When Lola (Franka Potente) receives a frantic telephone call from her boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), her life changes...and changes...and changes in ways that are so surprising, they won’t be revealed here.

Manni’s problem? It seems that while leaving the subway, he stupidly left behind a bag filled with 100,000 deutsche marks, which a delighted homeless man came upon--and quickly ran off with.

It gets worse. The money didn’t belong to Manni, but to a vicious drug dealer, who will kill Manni if Manni doesn’t come up with the stolen loot in 20 minutes.

That’s right--20 minutes. Manni’s solution? Rob a grocery store. Lola’s solution? Demand that Manni wait where he is while she runs across the busy streets of Berlin to her father, a banker, whom she will beg for help.

At only 81 minutes, “Run Lola Run” is a triumph of storytelling that’s tweaked so tightly--and feels so urgent--its pace never lags. There is real imagination at work here, real thought, a clear effort to try something new, to push and alter the boundaries of film as we race toward the millennium.

The result is one of this year’s most refreshing films, a standout to get excited about, especially considering a current cinematic climate overwhelmed with dull underachievers.

Rated R. Grade: A

View the trailer below: