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Movies / On DVD / Running Scared
Running Scared

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Running Scared (2006)

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Reviews Counted:126

Fresh:50

Rotten:76

Average Rating:4.5/10

Consensus: This film runs with frenetic energy punctuated by gratuitous violence but sorely lacks in plot, character development and stylistic flair.

Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Synopsis: Not the 1986 Billy Crystal-Gregory Himes buddy cop movie of the same name, 2006's RUNNING SCARED is writer/director Wayne Kramer's (THE COOLER) take on the violent gangster crime genre. Paul Walker... Not the 1986 Billy Crystal-Gregory Himes buddy cop movie of the same name, 2006's RUNNING SCARED is writer/director Wayne Kramer's (THE COOLER) take on the violent gangster crime genre. Paul Walker (THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS) plays Joey Gazelle, a low-level Mafia thug who finds himself in the middle of a drug deal gone wrong, with a hail of gunfire and some dead undercover cops as the net result. Fleeing from the scene, Joey is charged with getting rid of one of the steel snub-nosed revolvers used to kill the cops. Instead, he stashes the gun in his own basement, just in case he ever needs insurance against his own gang. Unfortunately, Joey's 10-year-old son, Nicky (Alex Neuberger), and his best friend, Oleg (Cameron Bright), see where the weapon is hidden. Oleg, whose Russian mob-connected stepfather is physically abusive towards him and his mother, steals the gun to exact revenge. Shooting his father in the shoulder, he runs away with the "hot" gun. This forces Joey to embark on a nightmarish 18-hour journey to locate Oleg and the gun before his own gang, the Russian Mafia, or bad cop Detective Rydell (Chazz Palminteri) finds them or the true link between the gun and the crimes. In a film dedicated to directors Sam Peckinpah, Walter Hill, and Brian De Palma in the closing credits, Kramer splatters the screen with a level of violence that would make those masters proud. Drained of bright colors, stylish, and feverishly fast-paced, RUNNING SCARED is one bloody thrill-ride. [More]

Starring: Chazz Palminteri, Paul Walker, Cameron Bright, Ivana Milicevic

Starring: Chazz Palminteri, Paul Walker, Cameron Bright, Ivana Milicevic, Johnny Messner, Vera Farmiga

Director: Wayne Kramer

Director: Wayne Kramer
Screenwriter: Wayne Kramer
Producer: Brett Ratner, Andrew Pfeffer
Composer: Mark Isham
Studio: New Line Cinema

[See More Credits]

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Reviews for Running Scared

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
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No one in their right minds could call this a good film, but it's certainly unique.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
03/11/06
Andrew Pulver
Andrew Pulver
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Stylish, rollicking post-Tarantino trash which does the business at such a pace you barely notice its preposterousness.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/01/06
Angie Errigo
Angie Errigo
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

If you've ever wanted to see Paul Walker get repeatedly smashed in the teeth with a hockey puck then this is the movie for you.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
03/11/06
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

We haven't even mentioned the hockey puck torture scene, or the relentless ricochetting camerawork, or the multiple last minute switcheroos -- it's got more endings than Lord Of The Rings.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
03/11/06
Paul Arendt
Paul Arendt
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Clumsily overwritten, straining badly to be a complex thriller but only generating small moments of believability.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
03/01/06
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

With audiences jaded by the usual sex and splatter, do the filmmakers have no qualms about juicing up proceedings with edgy but troubling material which clearly needs more conscientious handling? Apparently not.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Trevor Johnston
Trevor Johnston
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It’s ugly and it’s vile and it’s disgusting and it’s creepy and it just got tiresome.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment 1 Comment
02/27/06
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper

It drags on and on and on and on...and on. We never thought we'd ever say this, but Paul Walker deserves better.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
02/24/06
E! Online

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
03/11/06
Dallas Morning News
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
03/11/06
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

There's clearly supposed to be tension between Joey's good and bad sides. Sure, he's a mobster, but he's also a family man, which makes him... gray. (Not black and white = very sophisticated.)

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
02/24/06
Allison Benedikt
Allison Benedikt
Chicago Tribune

The end result of all these cross-mob confrontations is an orgy of nihilistic violence that is curiously exhilarating, I am almost ashamed to say.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
03/01/06
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer

Think of a Sopranos episode with no interesting characters and you have "Running Scared."

Full Review Source: Sympatico.ca | comment Comment
03/06/06
Angela Baldassarre
Angela Baldassarre
Sympatico.ca

Appallingly gross, filled with forced profanity, and atrociously edited.

Full Review Source: Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah) | comment Comment
02/28/06
Audrey Rock-Richardson
Audrey Rock-Richardson
Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah)

Style overpowers substance in 'Running Scared,' but Paul Walker surprised me with his intense performance.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
03/04/06
Betty Jo Tucker
Betty Jo Tucker
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

Writer/director Wayne Kramer's approach to storytelling is to withhold any information that might give away the plot. The film is a string of violent confrontations between characters whose relationships to each other are unclear.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
02/23/06
Bill White
Bill White
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

May be the first original screenplay that unfolds in a setting so grim, despairing and yet slightly hallucinatory that it could’ve been adapted from Grand Theft Auto.

Full Review Source: FilmStew.com | comment Comment
02/24/06
Brent Simon
Brent Simon
FilmStew.com

A flat-out atrocity of storytelling design that requires a thorough shower after viewing.

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
02/23/06
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com

Running Scared exists in that world of movies where there are no good guys - just bad guys, worse guys and worst guys.

Full Review Source: UGO | comment Comment
03/24/07
Brian Tallerico
Brian Tallerico
UGO

If Running Scared sometimes looks like a storyboard sprung violently to life, Kramer's assured direction turns that into its greatest strength in the clinches, of which there are plenty.

Full Review Source: San Jose Mercury News | comment Comment
02/23/06
Bruce Newman
Bruce Newman
San Jose Mercury News
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Running Scared

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February 24, 2006: "Scared" Director Seeks "Evil
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