Born to Run

We watched Run (2013) on a whim - a straight-to-video free-running/parkour action movie, why not? It worked out pretty well.

William Moseley (from the Narnia films) is a teenaged cat burglar. He lives on the run with his father, moving from town to town, never making friends, always ready to drop everything. They wind up in Brooklyn, where dad decides to confront the bad guys in his past. Meanwhile, Moseley is trying to keep his head down in a new school, but finds himself making friends with the freerunning crowd.

This is where the movie reveals itself - this isn't an action/crime movie. It is a Beat Street/Breakin' high-school dance craze movie. I think one of the buildings was actually in Wild Style. There's the community center that keeps the kids out of trouble, the cute girl for the troubled hero to fall for, etc.

Best of all, there is just a lot of freerunning - kids running, jumping, rolling, climbing, etc - Just paste a silly plot onto a bunch of Youtube sensation stunts. In fact, the closing credits clearly used audition footage from people who aren't even in the movie. And that's a good thing! It isn't even the top of the line stuff you see from Daniel Bell and crew - just joyful funs.

Requires some suspension of the cheesy plot rejection reflex. But I liked it.

In conclusion, Eric Roberts is the Big Bad. Whether that is a good thing is up to you.