Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

Run Lola Run 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

"The ball is round, a game lasts 90 minutes, everything else is pure theory. Off we go!"

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown August 5, 2024

Previously exclusive to the eleven-film Sony Pictures Classics: 30th Anniversary Collection box set, Sony is finally making director Tom Tykwer's cult favorite Run Lola Run available as an individual 4K UltraHD Blu-ray release. Lightning-paced, frenetic and oozing MTV-generation energy, the film remains gripping some twenty-five years after its German theatrical debut, deliriously trembling within its barebones, dramatically economic premise. It also introduced (to most of us anyway) actress Franka Potente, who would become a more recognizable talent after The Bourne Identity arrived in 2002. There are a few somewhat dated elements -- the rapidfire use of different mediums, from animation to low-fi standard definition footage, isn't as cutting edge as it was, hitting the style-over-substance nerve a bit too often. But there's still something indescribably intoxicating about Tykwer's anxiety-inducing three-reality race against time that allows Run Lola Run to defy the decades and stand apart as one of the more memorable looming-turn-of-the-century films to shake audiences awake in '98 and '99. And that's saying a lot, considering how packed-with-classics a year 1999 still stands.

Man... probably the most mysterious species on our planet. A mystery of unanswered questions. Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? How do we know what we think we know? Why do we believe anything at all? Countless questions in search of an answer... an answer that will give rise to a new question, and the next answer giving rise to the next question and so on. But, in the end, isn't it always the same question? And always the same answer?

Um... yes? No? Forget it. The plot: Lola (Potente) receives a call from her panicked boyfriend Manni (an effectively frazzled Moritz Bleibtreu) who's going to be killed by gangsters if he doesn't recoup a large sum of money he lost. His plan: to rob a grocery store; not exactly his forte, as Lola well knows. Cue a ticking twenty-minute clock in which Lola has to titularly run to stop him. But this isn't one version of their story. It's three. When and if things go wrong, Lola reawakes the moment Manni hangs up the phone and hurries to stop him again. Does she remember previous events? What exactly is causing the time loop? None of that matters. Twyker is only concerned with speed, suspense and timing, and the movie is better for it.

Click here to read Ben Williams' full review of the film, which he calls "an exciting and visually inventive film that never ceases to be entertaining." Adding, "while it isn't an intensely emotional affair, it will get your adrenaline pumping and your mind twirling with all that unfolds on screen."

Run Lola Run 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sony nails Run Lola Run's race to 4K with a striking, wholly filmic 2160p native video transfer that brings Tykwer's at-times erratic and explosive race against time to crisp, grainy life. The color palette boasts a warm, orange-twinged hue that's true to the film's original photography and color grading, allowing various stylistic choices -- animation, black and white shots, photograph inserts, bursts of standard definition footage and more -- to stand out as intended. Primaries pack punch, particularly Lola's blazing mane, while skin tones are as lifelike in the world of Lola's run as they're meant to be. Black levels are deep and satisfying, and connective cherry-red interludes between Lola and Manni are gorgeous, without anything in the way of unsightly red or black crush. Detail is exceptional as well (minus the lofi 480p sequences between Lola's father and his mistress, which are meant to evoke voyeurism and secrecy), with sharply defined edges free of halos, wonderfully refined fine textures and a consistent and consistently pleasing veneer of grain that doesn't spike in unruly fashion or impede the quality and clarity of the image. Add to that a lack of banding, blocking and other such nonsense and you have Run Lola Run as it was designed and shot, not to mention the inarguably definitive way to experience the film and its frantic finesse.

Run Lola Run 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

From Martin Liebman's 2022 box set review: "Rather than re-release Run Lola Run with the original Blu-ray's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack, Sony has re-encoded the tracks (original German and English and Spanish dubs) into the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless encode. I cannot vouch for how the two compare, but this new 5.1 encode is very dynamic and intense. It's crystal-clear, offering heart-pounding musical cues, intense surround content and action aplenty, and clear and centered dialogue. The techno-pulse musical rhythm is very dynamic, and the film seems to slow down when it suddenly disappears (listen around the 10-minute mark). Voices swirl around the stage moments later, the music kicks back up, and the energy amps into overdrive. Even without the added channels that would have been included in an Atmos track -- which would have really pounded this one home -- there's very little sense of lack at the 5.1 channel output. This one is dynamo just for the sheer complimentary thrill of it. Score, songs, and sound effects are as much a backbone for this movie as is the kinetic energy playing out on the screen, and Sony's track commands this audio content with all the richness and definition and immersion one could ever want."

Run Lola Run 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentaries: Two English-subtitled German tracks are available, each featuring director Tom Tykwer. The first is newly recorded, with editor Mathilde Bonnefoy stepping up to discuss the rhythm of the film's editing and the film's tight, brisk run from Lola's apartment to Manni's chosen grocery store. The second is much older but unites Tykwer and actress Franka Potente for an entertaining, fully comprehensive commentary that's well worth a listen, even all these years later.

• Making-of-the-Film Featurette (HD, 40 minutes): A newly produced retrospective trip behind the scenes that examines everything from the premise to Run Lola Run's frantic happenings and kinetic style, as well as a look at the fight to make it a feature vs a short film. In German with English subtitles.

• Still Running (SD, 12 minutes) - An archive featurette.

• Music Video (SD, 3 minutes) - "Believe"

• Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2 minutes)

Run Lola Run 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I went back and forth between a 4.0 and a 4.5, trying to determine where I landed with Run Lola Run twenty-five years after its debut. Ultimately, it remains an excellent, stylistically engaging affair, although it hasn't aged quite as perfectly as I hoped. (Its MTV visual flourishes are retro as hell and fun as they could be, sure, but certainly date things.) Thankfully, Sony's 4K Blu-ray release looks straight out of 2024, with a to-die-for video presentation, a gripping DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, and a solid complement of new and previously released special features (among them two audio commentaries). Recommended.