Video: Kanye West - Runaway (Full Movie) Review

By Bob Burt (PureFunk)

It has been called (by none other than Kanye himself) epic.  The 34 minute film clip for the single 'Runaway' is nothing less than that, and probably a bit more.  It has been compared favorably with MJ's 'Thriller', Madonna's 'Like a Prayer' and Gun 'N' Roses 'November Rain', three other music video's of similar magnitude.  So was it any good?  To answer that question I had to break it down into categories, which allows me to better describe exactly what I saw.  Let's start with the obvious one, Music.

Music
Epic.  Thrilling.  Tantalizing.  Hip Hop.  The songs we knew (Lost in the World, Runaway) held their own here, but it was the snippets of new music that should have everyone talking.  The big seller is undoubtedly 'All the lights', with its star-studded cast and triumphant trumpets making 'Run this town' sound like the high school marching band.  The tracks were all fantastic, and 'Blame Game' should have everyone going banana's over it's Aphex Twin 'Avril 14th' sample.

Visuals

Striking and somewhat random.  There were meteor's and deer, ballerina's and a sheep, and that's not even mentioning the 'Phoenix'.  Model Selita Ebanks is the titular bird, and she's something to behold.  The whole thing looks awesome, as you would expect, and the special effects aren't so over the top that they take away from rest of the video.  The clip involving 'Runaway' is especially good, with it's choreographed Ballerina's left to do what they do best, and Yeezy standing atop a white piano.

Acting
Don't go there.  Luckily Yeezy recognized his shortcomings as an actor and let the music do most of the talking.  The dialogue is a bit stilted, but there's not much of it, so you don't really notice.  Selita Ebanks does well in a what is her basically doing a bird impression.

Story
Again, not much to it, but you are here for the visuals and the music, and he delivers on both.  The story is that Kanye finds a phoenix on the road, takes it home to care for it and the next morning it soars back into the heavens in a ball of flame.  Doesn't sound like much and it isn't, but then again it doesn't need to be.

As an epic artistic statement it delivers, and as a music video, that is all you can ask for.  Don't go looking for meaning, just soak up the sounds and the visuals.  Check it below.