Running Wild

source: Running Wild

Predictable and cliché. Most of these conflicts were nonsensical.

Well, I am probably as bias as they come when commenting on any horse film in general since the majestic animals always capture my love & admiration. "Running Wild" is a heartwarming family film about second chances & the courage within us all to rise up to the challenges we face in life. It's mostly a feel good film with a healthy dose of heart & soul, and although I feel no show I've seen as yet involving horses can hold a candle to the "Heartland" series, this one definitely has its' moments that pull at the heart strings. With decent acting, it moves at a leisurely pace, more concerned about allowing the viewer time to absorb the beautiful relationships between horses & humans that can have a positive impact in both our lives, rather than galloping full speed ahead as we miss out on one of the more fundamental things in life ... simple connections with others, whether man or beast.

This film start with a woman "Stella" attending her husband funeral after her husband die in a car accident scene! As turnout, this film is about Stella working with a bunch of prison inmates to train a herd of wild horses to sell in the auction and save her own ranch! Another rich woman "Meredith" want to buy Stella horses and release them! Entire film full of boring conversation! Barely intense scene is, two prison inmates fighting on a bus when they arguing who burn down the ranch! Only one bonding scene with the horse! One of the prison inmate throw down by the horse he riding! At the end, Meredith won the bid at the horse auction center! Stella save her ranch, one of her worker "Brannon" confess to her and kiss her! That's it! A totally wasting time to watch film!

This is a good movie to see if you are feeling down or demotivated.

This is a movie about second chances. If you're an animal , horse loving person, this is a hearty film about second chances. It's also surprising to see in the end credits that Sharon Stone is also the producer although her role in the film is more of the usual conniving queen bee. It's good to know that she gives way for younger, less established actors to shine.

Now this is a soft drama if you want to call it that. It has all the ingredients a movie like this needs, with heightened drama/problems, bad guys lurking around to make life difficult and other obstacles our main protagonist has to overcome. Of course she also gets a helping hand, by a good looking guy, with a dark past... that's just the way it is. Talking about a dark past, you may recognize one of the supporting actors as a member of a TV show called "Sons of Anarchy". There is a bit of typecasting you could say, but it works in its favor. It really is nothing special overall and while I'm not spoiling anything about the thin story, it'd be a surprise if you were surprised by where the movie is heading.

"In ninety days you're going to lose everything." Stella Davis (Pham) has recently lost her husband and is in danger of losing her ranch. Looking for ways to raise money she decides to try and tame a herd of wild horses on her property and sell them. Needing help she begins to work with convicts in a rehabilitation program where they work with the horses. Things are going great until Meredith (Stone) shows up and tries to convince everyone what Stella is doing is a danger to the horses. This is a movie I wasn't expecting anything out of at all. I was thinking it was going to be a cheesy hallmark type movie. There's nothing wrong with movies like that, they just aren't my thing. While this film did have shades of that for sure this was much much better than I was expecting. It brought up some very interesting ideas and it made me think, which is something I wasn't expecting to do watching this. Overall, there are a few swear words in this but besides that this is a pretty good family movie that talks about deeper aspects than the Hallmark movie I was expecting. I liked this and surprisingly give this a B+.

This was 1½ hours of life wasted. It was a struggle to hang on to the - utterly predictable - end.

Martin Scorsese and Paul Verhoeven once saw talent in Sharon Stone. I still see it. Unfortunately, her fledgling acting career has dwindled down to almost nothing. Now, she's co-starring in little seen films made by unknown production companies. Yes I'm talking about 2017's Running Wild (my latest review). "Wild's" diegesis goes like this: Stella Davis (played by Dorian Brown) becomes a widow after her rancher husband dies in a car crash. Stella's late hubby failed to inform her that he was six million dollars in debt. The improbable solution: Save her soon-to- be, foreclosed ranch by hiring convicts to restore wild horses that happened to wander onto the Davis property. Anywho, Running Wild's "running" time is 99 minutes. Most of these minutes are monetarily far-fetched. With beautiful scenery (courtesy of Napa Valley) and a feel-good ending, this is the type of cinematic fodder that caters to a certain group of people. For example, the Christian groups love their Left Behind and God's Not Dead movies. The wine connoisseurs, well they dig stuff like Sideways and Bottle Shock. "Wild" seems bent on satisfying the stallion enthusiast in all of us. Case in point: The title card at the end of this flick says, "For all of our horse loving friends". Nuff said. Directed by Alex Ranarivelo (he competed in the third season of Project Greenlight) and filmed almost a year and a half ago, Running Wild's opening scene is undramatic and quickly edited (that would be the car crash segment mentioned earlier). If I had to classify "Wild", I'd say that it's a straightforward drama with a TV feel. It also contains middle-of-the-road acting, sweeping aerial shots of northern California, and plenty of high-tailed thoroughbreds. Now "Wild" does have some solicitous moments with Ranarivelo's camera glowingly tracking and the Cali sun glistening. However, it all adds up to the equivalent of watching a film strip built on clamoring to the horse whisperers of the world. It's amusing and educational but not quite worth recommending. Bottom line: Running Wild is at best, a last- ditch family rental on a Saturday night. Call it "Graze of Heaven". Rating: 2 stars.