Running Scared
Dir. Wayne Kramer
Reviewed by Matt ‘not in his right mind’ Adcock
As The Guardian’s Andrew Pulver says: “No one in their right minds could call this a good film, but it's certainly unique.” Well in that case I’m obviously not in my right mind as I loved it!!
You’ll know if you read my reviews that I’m often’ out of sync’ with the mainstream critics and so here I am again telling you that a film which is tracking poor reviews from the national media is actually really worthy of your time…
There is one perquisite to enjoying Running Scared though – you have to be able to take violence and not flinch at a remorseless stream of nasty things done by nasty characters… Paul Arendt from the BBC chips in for good measure: “the stage is set for a lurid mystery tour through Kramer's seedy cityscape, a neighbourhood populated exclusively by pimps, prostitutes, crack hounds, mobsters, tramps and bent coppers. It makes Sin City look like Disneyland.” Oh and he forgot to mention the sickest pair of paedophiles to grace the screen for some time too. But what is great about Running Scared is that it sets about taking out the trash with a nitrous powered deathwish. This is a modern fairy tale – think of it like an 18 rated version of Lemony Snicket's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' – with lots of gun battles, car chases, hot women and a constant stream of deviant baddies…
Paul ‘Fast and the Furious’ Walker comes across well as the mob associate charged with disposing of the guns used in the various nefarious acts carried out and he’s built up quite a collection. When a crooked cop has his balls blown clean off and another slug put in his head by the same gun, it is deposited with Walker for disposal. Alas his next door neighbour’s kid ‘borrows’ the gun used in the police killing and ventilates his abusive father... setting in motion a manic night of events which has to be seen to be believed.
It is grim stuff but sometimes there’s a place for that – so if you’ve got the guts, check out Running Scared - I guarantee that you’ll never forget the ‘inquisition by hockey puck’ scene.
Mark my words - "This will be a ‘cult classic’ before the year is out!!"
Darkmatt Rating: öööö (grim but good... from the maker of 'The Cooler')
"love the artwork - and from the end credits am sure there's an Asley Wood influence / connection?"
Reviews of other films and stuff you might want to read indexed here
Darkmatters: H O M E
4 comments:
A modern fairy tale? Sounds interesting! Real fairy tales are grim, nasty things anyway. I hadn't heard of Running Scared (not a fan of the title!), but I'll look out for it. Thanks.
I REALLY wanna know what happens with the hockey puck! I've seen so many clips as it flies towards his mouth... It looks excellent, can't wait to see it.
Thank you Matt. I've seen it twice already. It's a great little action thriller. Pacy, stylish but what makes it unusual is that the kids get sworn at and are threatened with violence pretty much throughout the film. I was glad they put in a happy ending to make up for that. Well done for mentioning that the producers spent money on the end credits. Actually, I thought Running Scared was better than Jarhead which I watched on the same evening and 100 times better than War of the Worlds and Batman Begins from last year.
Does anyone know what car paul walker is driving? It looks like in the commercial its a 67 or 68 mustang.
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