Life or a Half-Life
Having had enough of the domestic abuse she suffers at the hands of her husband, Robert (Mark Humphrey - Vipers), whilst let down by the courts, Meredith (Amy Smart - 12 Dates of Christmas) flees from him with their children and goes in to hiding. But despite making a new life for herself and her girls, with a good job as a journalist, Meredith learns that Robert has not only found out where she is but has hired a hitman. With the police's hands tied when it comes to her husband they do sort out the hired killer for her. But faced with conflicting advice Meredith must decide whether to flee with her children again and take on new identities or kill Robert so that she can be free from him once and for all.
Without wanting to come across like I was belittling the subject, when I came across "Run for Your Life" and read a synopsis my thoughts were; here's another domestic abuse movie where a woman goes on the run, a scenario which I have come across quite a few times. But to give credit where it is due you do get more than just the usual in "Run for Your Life" as it takes the "Sliding Doors" approach to the situation which along with the strong performance from Amy Smart as the battered wife makes it more interesting than if it was another movie about an abused wife on the run from her violent and controlling husband whilst trying to start a fresh.
Now for those who don't know what I mean by "Sliding Doors" it references a Gwyneth Paltrow movie where we get two versions of the same storyline. As such in "Run for Your Life" we get to see both what moght happen if Amy decides to take her children and run again as well as what might happen if she killed Robert. Now I won't lie as I have seen both sides done before but separately; so on one hand we get to see the resentment of her daughter for her life being destroyed whilst Meredith is constantly looking over her shoulder if she runs but then there is the guilt if she killed her controlling husband and the consequences. Whilst all this is going on we also get some glimpses into the abuse with Robert attacking Meredith for a variety of reasons.
Whilst the "Sliding Doors" style story telling is effective "Run for Your Life" certainly benefits from the casting of Amy Smart as she delivers a strong performance throughout both sides of the story bringing the fear factor to the screen of a woman always looking over her shoulder but also the battered wife driven to an extreme act by the physical and psychological abuse, knowingly facing heart breaking consequences for her actions.
What this all boils down to is that "Run for Your Life" doesn't deliver anything new when covering the subject of domestic abuse but the USP of telling parallel storylines certainly makes this more than just another movie about a battered wife on the run with her children.
