The Daily Wire+’s latest film is a primal scream against the Hollywood status quo.
If filmmakers won’t tackle the woke Left, Ben Shapiro’s team will step up via films like “Run Hide Fight: Infidels.”
The action thriller takes meaty swipes at:
- Woke college administrators
- Campus radicals
- Wishy-washy deans
- Triggered snowflakes
- And, of course, the dangers of radical Islam
The latter is center stage with “Run Hide Fight: Infidels,” a spiritual sequel to the superior 2020 film “Run Hide Fight.” Director Kyle Rankin returns to poke progressive Hollywood in the eye.
That’s the good news.
The film’s satirical formula falters after a spell, becoming a generic shoot ‘em up that doesn’t take full advantage of what came before it.
The students at Laughton University have plenty on their mind – studying, flirting and dealing with protesters who have turned their bucolic campus into a Gaza camp.
Said radicals, led by the hard-charging Farrah (Charlotte Delaney Riggs), are getting a dollop of local press. They want more. They crave more.
Be careful what you wish for …
Meanwhile, a kindly new janitor Ibrahim (Stephen Hailo) has more on his mind than spotless floors. Wait … did he just plant a bomb on campus? Yes, “Infidels” starts in a hurry, and before long the real radicals have overtaken the school.
The poseurs are running for their lives. Many don’t make it.
The campus attacks are purposefully chaotic and all too reminiscent of the wholesale slaughter from Oct. 7. Before you can cry, “Wolverines,” a rag-tag group of students, led by a gamer (James Bingham) and lovestruck Devlin (JC Kilcoyne), to fight back before the radicals transform the university into an academic caliphate.
That straightforward description doesn’t capture the darkly comic nature of the first act. It’s a parade of wokeism gone wild, hitting all the incendiary moments conservatives have witnessed over the last few years.
For left-leaning viewers, this may all seem novel and maybe hyperbolic. Yet we’ve seen campus protesters trash their own universities and make insane demands of administrators.
So watching this university’s feckless leader feels almost like a documentary snippet.
I got the chance to speak with producer Dallas Sonnier and director Kyle Rankin about the casting of Jonathan Majors in the new Run Hide Fight: Infidels from @realDailyWire
“I have in many ways become the patron saint of canceled actors.” https://t.co/DonK6miMmf
— Zachary Leeman (@WritingLeeman) September 16, 2026
Those curious to see canceled actor Jonathan Majors’s comeback should set their phasers to “low expectations.” His role in the film is far smaller than anticipated.
Dang.
He plays a U.S. Delta Force veteran who comes to campus to peddle his memoir and warn students about radical Islam.
Not. Remotely. Subtle.
“Infidels” has little interest in subtlety. It’s a bare-knuckled assault on a Hollywood ecosystem that ignores reality and the Modern Left. “Infidels” reminds us of all the stories that should be told but aren’t.
it’s like “Citizen Vigilante,” but with far more skill, humor and self-awareness.
One supporting character steals the movie. A heavy-set security guard (David Lucas) becomes an accidental hero, and Rankin’s screenplay gives him all the best lines.
Lucas does the rest.
Some of those lines are wildly un-P.C., even for a Daily Wire original. “Infidels” isn’t here to make us comfy-cozy.
Just the opposite.
That’s fine, but the film stalls mid-movie without a signature action sequence to anchor the story. Instead, we see the depths of the radicals’ depravity, a few spasms of bravery and evidence that select Americans will bow to their new masters.
Some subplots get too little attention, like Kristy Swanson’s role as a key FBI agent. A lesser story, involving a very pregnant professor, could have been snipped without incident. “Infidel” deserves a take-no-prisoners edit.
“Infidels” is taking big swings on multiple fronts, and its ambition occasionally works against it. Rankin’s previous “RHF” proved tighter and more focused.
One example? Majors’ character has a troubled connection to Devlin, but they don’t have enough screen time to work through their bond.
Rankin is operating with a tight budget, and occasionally that shows. “Run Hide Fight: Infidel” still makes a mark, albeit an imperfect one.
Some subjects must be tackled. Some villains must make it to the big screen. And some farcical ideologies deserve all the ribbing they get, even in a “Red Dawn”-style thriller.
HiT or Miss: 3 out of 5 stars
Genre: Action
Runtime: 128 minutes
Where to Watch: On DailyWire+ Sept. 16
Family Friendly? No. Extreme violence, adult language, torture sequences and disturbing themes (NR)