'Range Runners' Review: Celeste Cooper sparkles in a grueling, hard tale of trauma and recovery
Let's start with the age-old saying, you don't know how strong you are, till being strong is all that you've got. It's the alarming predicament Mel (Celeste Cooper) faces, when she is trapped in the woods, and has to fight for her survival. It's a story of suppressed horrors and the eventual road to recovery and hope. 'Range Runners' is a haunting and dark thriller, laced with traumatic childhood flashbacks and juxtaposed with a precarious present. Caught in the middle of these two worlds is a fiercely-willed Mel, who has to summon every possible ounce of strength she has — physical and mental, to escape the wilderness and two men.
Ironically, the beauty of the story lies in the fact that Mel's character has been fleshed out so vividly. Any other character seems pale in contrast. The two men, Wayland (Patrick Leonard) and Michael B. Woods (Jared) are the demons in this tale. They are your usual stereotypical antagonists, where one is the disgustingly cheery and smooth captor, and the other is a pasty-faced, nervous coward. The coward has the power to change things around, but refuses to do so, and continues to take orders till the last, even if it involves leaving a woman to die.
Celeste Cooper sinks her teeth into her role with panache and gives the film gravitas, that helps it tide over a few hitches and bizarre plot elements. The layers to her character are peeled off gradually, till she is finally laid bare in all vulnerability. And yet, that becomes her biggest strength. Through the eyes of Mel, we see a woman determined to prove her worth, something that has been ingrained into her since childhood. It's a bloody and grueling world out there, she knows. There's no time for tears and to sit back. It's a little distressing to know that this is the world we prepare children for, rather than giving them the love and tenderness they ardently require and consider them weak if they can't handle themselves in the 'real world' so to speak. But that's the truth of it, the world has no time for you, otherwise. What can you do about it?
And that's what Mel has to battle. She oscillates from fear, to downright devastation and finally entering the rage mode in the last 45 minutes. There is enough bloodshed and someone's head is smashed in, leading to a final chance of redemption.
'Range Runners' is a hard and painful watch and despite a slightly bumpy first half, it's worth a watch. It's on VOD.
