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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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1 - 4 of 7

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Reviews for Running Scared

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101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
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A vile disaster.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
02/23/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Paul Walker is the principal actor. Need we say more?

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
02/23/06
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

Kramer stokes kinetic energy and hard-R intensity...may amount to no more than a punch to the gut, but...it's all in bad fun.

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
02/23/06
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

Could have been a good exploitation flick if it didn't get carried away with piling on the plot twists.

Full Review Source: FulvueDrive-in.com | comment Comment
02/23/06
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
FulvueDrive-in.com

It's lower on the food chain than a mere exploitation picture because it clings so desperately to the notion that it's a serious movie about violence; it doesn't even have enough integrity to serve up cheap, sick thrills for their own sake.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
02/23/06
Stephanie Zacharek
Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com

genuinely clunky

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
02/23/06
David Thomas
David Thomas
Filmcritic.com

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

A potential howler done in by a tendency to wear too much body tissue on its sleeve.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
02/23/06
Mike Clark
Mike Clark
USA Today

In the gleefully violent Running Scared, the writer and director Wayne Kramer tries to go over the rainbow and put a self-consciously bloody spin on once upon a time.

comment Comment
02/23/06
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

With a complex plot that unspools with surprising clarity, Running Scared displays a reckless intensity.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
02/23/06
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

The hallucinatory crime thriller Running Scared, written and directed by Wayne Kramer, is pretty awful.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
02/23/06
Peter Rainer
Peter Rainer
Christian Science Monitor

Running Scared goes so far over the top, it circumnavigates the top and doubles back on itself; it's the Mobius Strip of over-the-topness. I am in awe.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
02/23/06
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Everything feels begged, borrowed and stolen from other better movies, from Quentin Tarantino's exclamation-point violence to the slo-mo bullet trajectory shots from The Matrix.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
02/23/06
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post

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

It's like a gruesome merry-go-round filled with unpleasant characters and bad acting.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
02/23/06
Randy Cordova
Randy Cordova
Arizona Republic

Luciano Pavarotti's eyebrows during the Olympic opening ceremonies were disturbing. Multiply that by about 1,000, and you have the creep-out factor in the gory Running Scared.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
02/23/06
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

If it's possible to admire his movie's heedless energy, it's also possible to hate its guts.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
02/23/06
Gene Seymour
Gene Seymour
Newsday

This is the kind of movie where character development consists of a guy mentioning in passing he has a meth lab in his back yard.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
02/23/06
Jeff Strickler
Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune

If Running Scared were set in Hell (the actual place, rather than a figure of speech), perhaps it would have been easier to swallow.

Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment Comment
02/23/06
Dustin Putman
Dustin Putman
DustinPutman.com

Running Scared is decently acted and divertingly brutal, but it’s also a giant step backward for its maker.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
02/23/06
Chuck Wilson
Chuck Wilson
L.A. Weekly
 
 
101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
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Latest News for Running Scared

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