Diva's Runaway Review

Runaway is about a phoenix that has fallen to Earth, where she is picked up by Kanye West, who falls in love with her. However, their romance is short lived, as she chooses to leave his world before she is destroyed. The phoenix tells Kanye that what she hates about his world is the fact that people have to tear down what is different. She explains to him that if she remains with him the world will knock off her wings and turn her to stone. The only choice she has is to fly away and burn

Kanye is an…an…artist?!

Who knew? Certainly not I. He was always this crazy guy, who did and said crazy things.  As far as his music goes, I never quite thought it was much my style. So I watched this based solely on his reputation, and my expectation was that it would be wholly ridiculous.

I was only partially right. As I only got to see the last 40 minutes of the movie, that is really all I have to go on.

The Man’s an Artist…I Can’t Deny That.

First, pretty much everything about Runaway was artistic. Kanye didn’t put forth much fluff or meaningless scenes, characters, or the like. Everything from the visuals, to the dancing, and to the way he played out his music on screen had a level of symbolism and sophistication that I previously never expected from Kanye.  For example: there was a scene where Kanye was show boating for his beautiful Phoenix Lady Friend, he was performing a song and a troupe of ballerinas came in and danced beautifully. It was really amazing. It was also so well choreographed that every movement made by each of the ballerinas corresponded to the music, even though each movement was different,

The Story was Good It Just Needed to Be More Connected

That being said, the movie could have benefited with a more cohesive storyline. Now, I’m not sure if Kanye means for his album to be a concept album, which implies that each song contributes to the overall story the album is trying to tell, or if meant to just to take some songs on his album and make a movie out of them. My guess would be the latter, but that doesn’t mean the movie wasn’t any good because it was.  If I were to venture a guess, each of Kanye’s songs has a deeper meaning but they way Kanye utilized them in the movie needed more explaining.  It wasn’t until almost the end did the message of the movie become apparent, because the phoenix out right told the viewers. The story was more cohesive towards the end, by far. The last two songs flowed perfectly together, and it totally made the movie!

The Best

The absolute best thing about this movie was the Phoenix character played by Selita Ebanks.  Everything about her was awesome: her costume, her acting, and the symbolism of her character. Can you tell I liked her? She looked great. Selita Ebanks played the part with enough grace and wonder that it made it the part shine. One could tell that the symbolism of the Phoenix was really important to Kanye. However, I think the symbolism I found in it was probably different than the symbolism Kanye had of her. Well, such is the way with art, right?

The Most Awkward

The most awkward part of this movie, which is different than the most ridiculous parts (that MJ float…I’m kinda bummed I missed that), was the sex scene between Kanye and the Phoenix. It wasn’t a full blown sex scene, just glimpses of them doing the deed, but it got awkward really fast. Would that be bestiality? It was necessary for the plot progression but left me feeling weird and slightly uncomfortable.

The saddest part

They served turkey, or some kind of bird, at the dinner party and The Phoenix had this expression like they were eating her cousin. It was unfortunate.

RECAP:

PROS:

Depth. Kanye has a deeper level of artistic depth then I had previously thought possible.

Selita Ebanks and the Phoenix symbolism, which was the whole point of the movie and very well executed.  Her costume was fantastic too, by the way.

The Ballerinas were amazing. ‘Nuff said.

 CONS:

Kanye overacted a bit…

A little bit more cohesive story telling would have been nice.

The quasi-bestiality, it was just awkward.

Cousin eating, that’s just wrong.

THE VERDICT:

I wanted the movie to continue once it was over. I couldn’t believe that it was over, cause I think it only ran for about 45 minutes. It was no Dark Knight, but it was a well made, and well thought out piece of art. If you are into symbolism and a higher level of music/art or would just like to have a glimpse into Kanye’s head I’d definitely recommend it.  For me, I’d watch it again…

I’m going to have to agree with Spectre on this one. Three stars…Neil Patrick Harris. J

Diva Out!