"The Runaways" is a compelling sex, drugs and rock and roll saga that charts the rise to fame of Joan Jett's first band.
Jett executive produced the flick and is played, fittingly, by "Twilight" star Kristen Stewart.
She gets top billing, but the show stealer is Dakota Fanning, who is nearly unrecognizable as singer Cherie Currie.
It's Fanning's most mature role yet, conflicted with a rock and roll lifestyle that rose fast and crashed hard.
Michael Shannon crafts another creepy yet brilliant character playing Kim Fowley, the mastermind manager who assembled the band.
Writer and director Floria Sigismondia makes a successful graduation from music videos, delivering a tune-heavy flick that plays more like a contemporary rock drama than a historical bio picture.
Regrettably, the film ignores Lita Ford's involvement in the band.
Still, the 1975 clash of attitudes jams together with talent that cannot be ignored.
On the News 8 Scale of one to eight, "The Runaways" rises to a six.
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Subject: Stewart and Fanning tune up rock drama in 'The Runaways' 
Thu Mar 25, 2010 4:41 pm