Given its title, one might expect 1998’s Run Lola Run to offer the story of a marathon participant. Instead, it brings an unusual form of thriller.

Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) delivers money for mobsters. He accidentally leaves a huge amount of cash on a subway train and now faces severe consequences for this goof.

Manni tells his girlfriend Lola (Franka Potente). She leaps into action to attempt to raise replacement funds in the 20 minutes allotted before Manni suffers a dire fate.

Unsaid in that synopsis: Run offers three separate explorations of Lola’s actions. The film depicts the ways in which small choices can come with big consequences and shows what happens to the characters when Lola follows alternate paths.

Once in a while, a movie comes along and by the sheer artistry of its creator has the power to invigorate and dazzle. When that happens, by the end I feel completely absorbed with a big smile on my face and reminded of the reasons why I love movies so much.

Into this category fell Run Lola Run, a thrilling hyperkinetic film by German writer and director Tom Tykwer. A runaway success at both the 1998 Toronto Film Festival and the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, Run Lola Run offers an inventive flick that remains fresh after many years.

Sometimes by describing a movie as "unique", I fear that a reader might interpret it as pretentious or arty - not unjustly so with the many self-consciously unusual independent and foreign films. Rest assured, Run Lola Run's aim is to entertain and does so at an exhilarating pace.

At the heart of the film is a conventional romance, as Lola's love gets put to the test. While the message of love remains universal, director Tykwer chooses to deliver that message in anything but a conventional manner.

For one thing, our heroine spends a majority of the film running at full stride from one place to another. The film unfolds with three different endings, during the course in which relatively small events and decisions lead to unexpected consequences.

Along the way, there are the principal characters that she will interact that affect not only her actions, but also the lives of these characters. In an ingenious setup, we get to see a few snapshots of different ways in which their life could turn out.

With quick editing, a variety of shooting techniques and camera angles and an equally electrifying techno soundtrack, Run Lola Run delivers a breathless experience.

Run Lola Run appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. The Dolby Vision image appeared to replicate the challenging source.

Most of the movie used 35mm film, and those elements largely worked fine. They showed a little softness at times but usually manifested appealing delineation.

The film shots lacked moiré effects or jaggies, and they came with no edge haloes. These components boasted natural grain and lacked print flaws.

For the 35mm segments, colors went with a slightly blue vibe, though other tones popped up as well, mainly via reds. These rarely seemed especially vivid but they suited the design choices, and HDR added some range and heft to the hues.

Blacks felt fairly dense, while low-light shots offered solid clarity. HDR gave whites and contrast extra kick.

A small portion of Run used late 1990s video cameras, though, and inevitably those looked ugly. They showed murky definition, lots of artifacts, dull colors and mushy blacks.

However, as implied, the movie largely favored the 35mm footage. That meant most of the film brought pretty good visuals.

As for the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, it favored music as the most significant aspect of the soundscape. The score occupied all five channels in an active manner through much of the film.

Effects came to the forefront at times, mainly via street scenes and some violence. However, these elements took a backseat to the music most of the time.

Audio quality felt positive, with speech that came across as natural and distinctive. Effects appeared accurate and dynamic, without distortion.

Music seemed vivid and full as well. Though never a great mix, the soundtrack worked fine for the story.

A few extras flesh out the set, and we find two separate audio commentaries, the first of which comes from writer/director Tom Tykwer and editor Mathilde Bonnefoy. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at editing, rhythm and their working relationship, photography and effects, the opening credits, music, and some connected domains.

Expect a heavy concentration on the movie's editing here - indeed, Bonnefoy plays the largest role here, as she dominates the discussion. While this means the commentary lacks a broad scope, it also offers a pretty solid look at all the cutting choices made for this complicated film.

For the second commentary, we hear from Tykwer and actor Franka Potente. Both sit together for a running, screen-specific discussion of cast and performances, sets and locations, logistical challenges, photography and camerawork, story, characters and chronology, stunts, music, and related topics.

With a broader focus than the first commentary, this one offers a more general take on the film. Potente's POV adds value and this turns into a pretty useful track.

In addition to the film’s English-language trailer, two featurettes follow. Making of spans 39 minutes, 30 seconds and brings comments from Tykwer, Potente, Bonnefoy, executive producer Maria Köpf, cinematographer Frank Griebe, producer Stefan Arndt, production designer Alexander Manasse, composers Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek, re-recording mixer Matthias Lempert, and actors Mortiz Bleibtreu, Heino Ferch, Joachim Król, Sebastian Schipper, and Nina Petri.

The reel looks at the movie's roots and development, story, characters and style, cast and performances, hair and costumes, cinematography and audio, sets, locations and production design, editing, music, and the film's release. This becomes a fairly solid overview of the production.

Still Running goes for 16 minutes, 58 seconds. It offers info from Tykwer and Potente.

With this program, we cover story/characters, cinematic styles, continuity complications and pacing, editing and music, cast and performances. Though a decent mix of notes, "Still" feels a bit redundant after the other features, so don't expect a lot from it.

We end with a music video for “Believe” from Franka Potente. The video mixes movie clips with bland lip-synch clips of the singer. The song offers generic 1990s techno and the video seems unremarkable.

With Run Lola Run, director Tom Tykwer burst onto the scene and made an indelible impression. An unusual and dynamic thriller, the movie created something fresh. The 4K UHD comes with pretty good picture and audio as well as a mix of bonus materials. Run still works after nearly 25 years.

Note that as of November 2022, this 4K UHD disc of Run Lola Run appears solely via an 11-film “Sony Picture Classics 30th Anniversary” box. It also includes Orlando, Celluloid Closet, City of Lost Children, SLC Punk, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Devil’s Backbone, Volver, Synecdoche, New York, Still Alice and Call Me By Your Name.