the original Runaways:
actors portraying them:
I saw this movie twice. The first time was purely out of anticipation. The second time was so that I could compare to my first viewing and actually write a decent review about it (my first one to date!) so the movie opens with Cherie Currie (played by Dakota Fanning) getting her first period. From then on, I guess everyone should know that even though this movie has strong feminism themes, it is still not the kind of movie you want to show at a slumber party. That scene quickly changed to another one with an introduction to Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) asking to buy men’s clothes. But personally speaking, I was really looking forward to this movie... like seriously looking forward to it and I can’t help but be a little bit disappointed with it. I know that it’s full of sex, drugs and rock n roll but honestly, it was not the WILD kind of sex, drugs and rock n roll. It wasn’t too physically R-rated. Verbally however, was another story. I know that their producer Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) was known to be a monster but I didn’t expect him to be such a drama queen about it. He said obscene things that were far worse that anything you could expect to happen physically. So I guess the overdramatic script writing was just totally packed with sex, drugs and rock n roll. I loved how when he would shout at the girls they just laughed at him. There are a lot of things about this movie that I love but it sort of got ruined by the pacing. The Runaways were only active from 1975–1979 and they shot to fame instantly. Since the movie is based on Cherie’s autobiography called Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway, the entire story was based of Cherie’s life in the Runaways. I’m also informed about that too, I knew that Cherie was only 15 and got crazily famous, redefined female rockers and initially fell off because fame proved to be too much. So basically, the movie started with the band forming, their short lives of fame and their fall. Sounds simple enough, but the pacing just made me go huh? I was enjoying her ride when she first auditioned for the band, I believed her, I felt that she had guts and then to suddenly become a pro during their shows was also something I found truly amazing. I was slightly disappointed in her fall though. I mean it was like she fell out of nowhere. Yes, it was too much for her and she suffered from exhaustion and all those were the things that could explain her fall but they were only in short periods of the movie. It was like one second she was rocking it on stage and the next she was falling. The real Cherie has also expressed that her mother moving to Indonesia affected her very much. I think that part was too short lived in the movie. We meet her mother once in the movie, she has one confrontation with her and that’s it. I’ve read reviews of how there are too many Cherie ‘staring into space’ scenes that were just a waste, I can’t completely agree because I understand that those scenes were needed to explain that she was breaking though I do wish that the staring scenes could be replaced with a more lively scene that can become a solid reason for her (as we’ve viewed it) sudden fall. So the pacing was a little off during the falling part, and a lot of other things could’ve been added but I guess you can’t fit much into a less than 2 hour movie. As for Joan, for me it was just 90% Joan but still 10% Kristen because her voice totally gave it away. She got everything else right, the clothes, the attitude, the walk, the hunch and especially the singing voice. But when she speaks (although they were Joan’s words) I still hear Kristen Stewart’s voice. Yes, it is impossible to change your voice, I’m not saying that! I’m saying that I was hoping for a full Joan transformation from her and I think she was nearly, almost there. Because it was Cherie’s story, Joan was not always in every scene but she indirectly played a very important part. I love the friendship portrayed between her and Cherie. Joan was like the lean-on pal but you can’t really notice it because she’s always acting so tough. The other actors were also great; I especially loved Stella Maeve’s portrayal of the late Sandy West. I will definitely remember her trademark “bitchin’”. I was a little sad that Robin (played by Alia Shawkat) didn’t have any lines at all in the movie and also by Lita Ford’s (Scout Taylor-Compton) character. It was like they were labelling Lita as the mean girl who hates Cherie when in reality, yeah you’re bound to get into fights but that doesn’t mean they didn’t get along at all throughout their entire careers. Overall, I still love this movie, I love the Runaways, I have a little bit of an issue with the pacing at the final part and of course I can’t expect a complete replica of the original Runaways. Instead I saw Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart, both are fabulous actresses nonetheless and I loved how passionate they were about this movie. I know they did the best they could but hey, editing could either make or break a movie right?
