The Long Run (film)

The Long Run is a 2010 science fiction/chase film written and directed by Adam Cariss, as his first feature film. The film stars Rosanna De Kor, Aaron Gersman, Emilie De Loro and Oscar Rodriguez, and was released on August 10 2010 worldwide.

The film follows the exploits of Zoë 5 (Rosanna De Kor), a young woman who escapes the Facility and goes on the run from the Establishment, led by the Chief (Aaron Gersman).

Synopsis
Zoë Aria, labelled as Zoë 5, is a few months short of her twenty-second birthday. She is one of the few people in the world that is actually themselves, avoiding "blanking" by succumbing to Establishment experiments.

Plot
The film begins in the "golden age of the New World Order", sometime after the Old Wars that supposedly devastated the Earth. Zoë Aria is a twenty-two year old who has spent most of her life in the Facility, subject to the experiments of Doctor Arriss and his scientists. Zoë was spared from "blanking", the process of removing individuals and replacing them with "Blanks", clones to ensure obedience and order, due to her potential in creating a much more "cleaner" answer to rebellion and disobedience from the youth. Zoë manages to escape the Facility after stabbing Arriss in the eye with a hypodermic needle, and in the ensuing chaos manages to evade Facility security forces. After surviving a slight fall from the Facility, and landing in the Underground; where the poor people live, Zoë sets out on finding a way to escape City I and free herself. Meanwhile the Chief arrives at the Facility, and chastises Dr. Arriss, who laments the loss of his eye, to which the Chief replies that it can be replaced by a cybernetic one. Despite losing Zoë, Arriss maintains he has plenty more "stock".

Largely unfamiliar with her surroundings, Zoë manages to run into Daedalus, a vagrant street vendor who offers transportation out of City I. Seeing this as her way to get out, she offers Daedalus the only thing she owns, a pill with the number five on it, stating that it was given to her on her fifth birthday for an unknown purpose. Daedalus blatantly refuses the pill, denoting its origin as the method the Facility uses to sedate youths before they are "blanked".

Cast

 * Rosanna De Kor as Zoë Aria ("5"): The main character, one of the few people her age that has not been "blanked", as in replaced by an obedient clone. She escapes the Facility at the beginning of the film, and goes on the run
 * Aaron Gersman as the Chief: The leader of the New World Order, and a veteran and survivor of the Old Wars. He serves as the main antagonist of the film
 * Emilie De Loro as Oriana Lewis ("6"): Another young woman experimented on by the Facility, who has yet turned eighteen and been "blanked"
 * Oscar Rodriguez as Daedalus: A "people smuggler", who helps Zoë 5 escape City I
 * Tyron LeBaron as "Ryker": The Chief's bodyguard, a hulking tattooed man with a mechanic arm
 * Trisha and Katlyn Iraya as Gracie and Lacie ("7" and "8"): Two prized possessions of the Chief, representing the success of the Facility's experiments to create "chemical obedience", without the need for "blanking"
 * Gerald Gariz as Doctor Arriss: The lead scientist of the Facility's experiments.

Development
Adam Cariss, writer and director, began working on the script for The Long Run after he finished promoting his short film, Ethos, in 2008. He told an interviewer at the later premiere for the film, his debut feature length, that "I was sort of going into this movie blind. This is the first time I've made a full length film, and everything's bigger; budget, effects, all that stuff".

He pushed producers, including co-chairman of his film company Zothropic Pictures; Gareth Toudeman, to cast a female lead, though they felt that a male lead would draw more appeal and return. His wife, actress Rosanna De Kor, who was twenty-five at the time, auditioned for the main role, and Cariss, along with the producers, felt she could act as if she were twenty-two, and young and naive.

Cariss continued drafting and re-writing the script during and before production began, feeling it became "too derivative" at times. The film began official production on February 2 2009.

Setting
The film never explicitly mentions a date, though the opening caption states the film is set "during the golden age of the great New World Order". Majority of the film takes place in City I, the capital city of the New World Order, including scenes at the Establishment Facility and the Chief's office and apartments.

Themes
The film poses questions of existentialism and mortality, and the corruption of human morales in a bleak future. One critic described it as "a warped take on what makes humanity work, and how far the leaders will go to control their population", calling it "The style and narrative of Logan's Run meets the pro-femininity and action of Kill Bill".

The final scene, in which Zoë awakens in the Facility, contains religious themes. The chair she is lying in contains a "halo"-like headpiece, and the silhouette of the angular fan represent "angel wings". Cariss has denied any religious intention with the film, though many critics have noted these certain motifs.

Meaning
In his review of the film, one critic said: "View the film as whatever you like; an action film, an escapist film, a sci-fi film, an escape movie; whatever you see it is is your own interpretation, because the deft hand of Adam Cariss has crafted the rarest of films; one that transcends genre and audience and can be interpreted in any manner". Cariss, in response, played down that his movie is that "deep", though did say his intention was to challenge perception of a science fiction movie.

Release
The film was released on August 10 2010 worldwide. It made reportedly $47,024,220 box office revenue, and was considered a financial disappointment for Zothropic Pictures. Adam Cariss and the main actors attended the premiere on August 8.

It was released on DVD and  BlueRay on February 12 2011, and made significant home release return. This prompted Adam Cariss and Zothropic Pictures to release a Director's Cut Collector's Edition, featuring an extra fifteen minutes and hours of bonus content.

Reception
The film received a positive critical reception. It generated a 87% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 88 Metascore on Metacritic. Several major critics, including Roger Ebert,  Richard Corliss, and  Peter Travers gave positive reviews.

Ebert gave the movie "two thumbs up", and called it "an old school and simultaneously new science fiction film, crafted stylishly by first-time director Adam Cariss to make for an enjoyable movie". Travers gave the film three and a half stars out of five in  Rolling Stone, stating he enjoyed the film, despite its cliched plot. Corliss said of the film: "Its not groundbreaking, nor particularly original, but The Long Run makes for a breath of fresh air in a stagnant sci-fi cinema".

Sequel
In response to a question of potential sequels to The Long Run, Cariss said in 2011 that he would'nt rule it out, but said that if he did make sequels they would be separate from the plot and characters of the original film.