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Visitors Review

manxman-1 2012-05-23 01:34:14

how not to make a movie

Running Scared is the perfect example of what is wrong with Hollywood:"Let's put as much violence and four letter words into the script aspossible and we'll make a fortune at the box office. Throw in somechild pornography and dismemberment and the audiences will flock to thetheaters." One prays that this movie will not succeed and that theviewing audience will have enough class and intelligence to ignore itcompletely. The story, which is ENDLESSLY irritating, careens fromset-up to set-up with distracting camera technique that has one rollingone's eyes in exasperation. The basic story, of a missing gun used in adrug confrontation between two groups of bad guys (of which there aremany, many, many) and a bunch of cops, which is then used by a kid toshoot his stepfather, who belongs to another group of bad guys, the kidthen going on the lam with the gun, which must be retrieved or PaulWalker, the foul-mouthed anti-hero who was supposed to dispose of it inthe first place (can you follow this because believe me I'msimplifying!) passes from hand to hand in the most unlikely ofcircumstances with sleazier after sleazier characters. Watching thismovie is infinitely less entertaining than studying the contents of atoilet bowl - of which the general language bears a remarkableresemblance. This is a movie of such unending violence and verbal filthone cannot understand how it got less than a XXX rating. For all theposturing in Hollywood about controlling violence on the screen this isone turkey that slipped under the radar and has absolutely nothing tocommend it. This is not entertainment, guys.

Prophet797 2012-05-22 11:39:34

A Conflicted Story

I had wanted to see this in the theater but never got the chance. Irecently rented it though.I was hesitant about seeing Paul Walker who just screams Californiafrom his walk, talk, and looks playing an East Coast tough guy.However, while it was not a total surprise he did hold his own prettywell. He seemed to overcome the whole pretty boy image.What did turn me off though was the conflicts of the story.The premiseis a great set up for a film. However this is a case of being toooverdeveloped. The story tries to go too many places that it didn'tneed to go. A great story needs to be stripped down and simple yetimpacting. Running Scared just tried to go in too many directions. Irealize it isn't meant to be realistic but the story needs to stillflow a little better. Sort of a case of having a painting that looksunfinished until you add that next brush stroke and realize it was toomuch and you should have left it alone.The other conflict was in dialogue. I am by no means offended by wordsbut the word fu** was used sometimes just to be used. Using it for 3words of a 5 word sentence is over doing it. There are more creativeways to cuss (I'm from the East Coast I should know) Also while themovie tried so hard to be smart and have smart plot twists that startto excite you, there is a line of weak dialogue that just kills thebuildup.Bottom line. It was entertaining to watch, I would watch it again.However, it is not a very polished film.

2012-05-18 00:48:22

too much

I am rarely offended by anything anymore so the OTT gore or languagewas not a problem for me and is not the basis for a disappointingreview.It seems to me that Wayne Kramer wanted to throw every crime clichépossible into one movie and put them all together no matter howham-fisted and implausible it would look. Yes, this was exciting inparts and the whole backdrop and some scenes like the hockey rink gavethe movie an original film noir quality. But overall, I kept throwingmy hands up with yet another ridiculous plot twist or development, mostof them were obvious but that fact that there had to be the glamourpimp AND the paedo couple AND he was undercover and AND he faked hisdeath, by the end this was all wearing thin and I was pleased the moviewas finally over

danahughes 2012-05-17 13:31:06

Best Action Flick in Years!!

Move over Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, & SylvesterStallone. Its time for the new and younger guys to step into yourshoes. Paul Walker was amazing, I mean amazing in this film. I am not afan of his, as a matter of fact I put off watching this movie becausehe was in it and he has never done anything I really liked. This has tobe the best work of his career, so far. I never knew he had such rangeas an actor. His emotions, his actions, his adaptation to the role wasunbelievable. I truly believed him in this role. His supporting actorsand actresses were out shined by him. The kids did great and added agreat element to the movie. This was a brilliant movie, good plot,directing, editing, sound effects, etc.. There was NOTHING to complainabout.Like Action? Hate the usual action type flicks? SEE THIS MOVIE.

merklekranz 2012-05-14 11:28:57

Gratuitous nonsense .............

This over the top cartoon-like no brainer is an insult to the wordentertainment. Riddled with cliché's this ultra violent gratuitousnonsense can only be described as ultra stupid. The missing gun plot isso convoluted that the audience will actually feel manipulated andabused. "Running Scared" has absolutely zero redeeming value. The plotis beyond contrived, the acting ridiculous, and the violence totallywithout meaning, except to add to this depraved movie's length.Supposedly this film is stylish. I say it is nothing but another"Tarrantino" wannabe failure. You have been warned. Avoid at all costs.Terrible. - MERK

2012-05-14 03:52:17

Running Scared

The gangster Joey Gazelle is in charge of getting rid of the guns that killed dirty cops in a transaction of drugs between Italian mobsters and Afro-Americans. However, Joey hides the guns in the basement of his house instead of throwing in the river, and his ten years old son Nicky and his best friend Oleg Yugorsky witness Joey hiding the gun. When Oleg's abusive stepfather Anzor Yugorsky beats his mother Mila, Oleg steals the weapon from the basement and shoots Anzor, running away home with the gun. Along the night, Joey, the Russian and the Italian mobster and the dirty cops chase the little boy trying to retrieve the gun and disclose who ordered the boy to shoot his stepfather. This is an extremely graphically violent movie with some gratuitous nudity. A lot of extremely well played roles. Characters were simple with complex backgrounds. It kept me on the edge of my seat for the entire time wondering what was next. Paul Walker gives an excellent performance. You'll be more than satisfied with "Running Scared". It's sharp and engaging.

2012-05-13 10:23:37

Get Ready to Go Down, Big F**king Time!

A great little action thriller...if you like movies packed full ofplot, sub-plots, tangential stories and artsy visuals. (Excellentsoundtrack too.) Not many reviewers mention all the cursing at kids or the fact thatthey are regularly threatened with violence.You need a strong stomach to cope with all that. Quite a few times Iwas genuinely shocked by plot developments.I had a great time watching this movie. I loved all the pantomimecharacterisations..the pimp, the hooker, the tweaker-talk included. Myonly quibble is that the woman who plays Paul Walkers wife, although avery talented actress, is, to be polite, also plain-looking. Oh well,can't have everything.The really amazing fact about this movie is that it was filmed almostentirely in Europe! (Apparently)

religion-is-war 2012-05-13 02:17:18

Worst Movie Ever

Okay...where to begin? Of all the movies i have ever watched this movieout-ranks all of them. The storyline and ideas behind it were the mostfar-fetched and horrible things ever. The writer was clearly not evenbothering to write anything substantial in any way shape or form. Theplot was incredibly random and made no-sense at all, merely for thesake of some gratuitous violence and nudity. But i think worst of allis the one scene where Paul Walker is talking to the little foreign kidand tells him to be proud of being an American and i don't know aboutthe rest of you but i'm sick and tired of that same old crap aboutpatriotic Americans and don't get me started on all the terrorist basedmovies in the past five years.Worst Movie I have ever seen.

RickHarvey 2012-05-06 08:44:12

Very surprised

They say never judge a book by its cover. Well for me, I am often heldguilty over this charge. My instant reaction when first glared upon thefront cover of the case, was a tiredly sigh. This was because I'mgetting extremely fed up of watching action films that purely focuseson gore and violence, rather than an well constructed story The openingscenes did not change my thoughts what so ever. The massacre of thecops at a drug raid was just a typical scene that you would find in aaction film that has a poor script. The camera work was impressive ,with the slow motion shooting with the shotgun. The dialogue was just atouch cheesy, most lines coming from the drug leader who just keptcoming out with ridiculous lines.THE GOOD: After the opening scene , the film starts to kick off intothe plot. It a simple and cliché story, Locate the gun that can be usedupon evidence or find your ass being capped by the mobs. But withreasonable dialogue and characters , the film keeps us interested. Theaction scenes were nicely delivered even if some were OTT, speciallytowards the end , but nonetheless fun to watch. The camera work andeffects were nicely delivered, with Kramer showing his talent andcreativity. The pace of the film was perfect, not once did it let youstop for a breath of air.THE BAD: The boy actor. Cameron Bright is typically typecast. Inmajority or maybe all of his films , he portrait's a character who isdepressed, angered and scared. He can become extremely repetitive ,always he holds the same sad face, even in the film when adrenalineshould be rushing through his veins , he shows no excitement just thesame old sad face, personally I wouldn't call him an actor. Now andthen he blurs out some lines , but just as with his typical face, hedelivers them in an depressing manner . Including scenes such aswitnessing his friends dad being shot , there no emotion . Anotherthing I didn't like was the sub plot with the child molesters. Ienjoyed the scene, the way it was directed and how he portrayed thecharacters as deadly monsters by the use of the silhouettes, but thescene was not needed. Despite being used to show the contrast from pureevil, it could have been delivered in an effective way, a way thatwould of kept the audience focusing of the main plot still, rather thanheading them into an different direction. Another con was the use oflanguage . It wasn't the meaning of it but the number of times it wasused by the main protagonist. Often he expresses his feeling by f'ingit twice in one sentence , specially the last 30 minutes, the f wordjust keeps firing out, so much in fact that it hard to concentrate onwhat he actually trying to say.Overall the film beat my overall expectations , with it delivering coolcamera work and special effects along with an fast paced story.

nickwilliamharding 2012-05-05 19:22:27

Watch this

Watch this movie.From beginning to end, this movie is a nonstop thrill ride with twistsand turns around every corner. A great cast of unique and colorfulcharacters, awesome directing and wonderful storytelling help to keepthis movie chugging along at a locomotive pace. You won't want to takeyour eyes off the screen.I can't find anything negative to say about this movie.It's not a cult classic or a legendary film that will go down inhistory or anything like that. But personally, I find most of thosemovies aren't enjoyable.It's a great action thriller and you will definitely not bedisappointed. WATCH IT.

2012-05-04 07:56:54

GREAT GREAT GREAT

And did I forget to say GREAT movie. Like some of the other reviewers I saw Paul Walker the fast and the furious kid and I was like this is gonna be cheesy. Boy was I wrong. This movie is the real deal. My favorite part is what his wife did to those sickos that was gangsta for real.I highly recommend this movie.

Charles Delacroix 2012-05-04 01:59:11

Awesome, Intense, Noirish Fast Action

I just saw this movie today ... opening day here ... and have to sumthis up in one word ... INTENSE ... ! This was very fast-paced, edgy, gritty, intense ... think of thingslike 8MM, Sin City, Kill Bill, Hustle N Flow, Four Brothers. If youlike movies like these ... or TV series like 24 ... you'll probablylike Running Scared.The beginning and ending trailers frame the movie well with a sort ofTarantino-ish comic book True Crime flavor. The movie itself was muchmore in the style of Hustly N Flow and Four Brothers, though, a sort ofintensely realist style story played out across an urban jungle.Very noirish, with lots of dark, dark action, except for the endingsequence that offered some very un-noirish plot twists that give anoverall happy ending. I don't know that's such a bad thing ... it feltvery good to me.Acting was excellent throughout. Paul Walker handled his leading rolewith convincing street cred. Everyone was excellent in their roles;especially, I thought, the young actor Cameron Bright as Oleg.The plot was just great, with a really cool theme that is played outbrilliantly.Cinematography was uniformly excellent from beginning to end. There wasa lot of work with movement and light and focus and off-focus shotsthat to me were simply perfect for this kind of movie. Very highquality.

govnor99 2012-04-29 02:18:22

Misleading Advertising

From the looks of the trailer and the TV spots, you might think thatyou're getting an action, chase movie along the lines of "Gone In 60Seconds" or "The Fast And The Furious." You might notice that thismovie is from the same writer/director of the drama "The Cooler" andexpect the same kind of results. Both are complete fabrications. In allhonesty, this is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.My minimal hopes for this movie being a stupid action flick at bestwere dashed within the first five minutes. The editing andcinematography were both appalling; tired clichés of fast cuts, flashframes, and frame rate distortion, which were all over-used throughoutthe movie's duration. If you think Tony Scott's movies are hard towatch based on technical merit alone, then your patience will truly betested with this movie.This movie's story and plot line are connected by random events ofstupidity. This movie is like "Magnolia" meets "Scarface" (the crappyone with Pachino).Now, here's why I say this is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.The version I saw of "Running Scared" was very much an NC-17, not the"Hard R" that New Line Cinema suggests. I can't remember the last timeI saw an R-Rated movie in the theater that features cunnilingus,close-up executions, and the raping and murdering of children forsexual pleasure. That last part is where I truly draw the line. Thismovie featured a prolonged scene that detailed an adult couple's sexualpleasure drawn from the children they kidnap, coerce into having sexualintercourse on video, and then precede to brutally dismember.After that scene, I leaned over to my buddy sitting next to me andasked, "They're actually going to release this in theaters," regardlessof the New Line Cinema representatives sitting right behind me. I guessNew Line thinks they can release anything after making all of theirmoney off of those Hobbit movies.From that point on, I lost any remaining interest in "Running Scared."The movie proceeded to provide relentless violence merely for the sakeof senseless violence. When it tried to be serious and gripping, it waslaughable at best. And in a completely ridiculous turn of events, thismovie features two of the most unnecessary plot twists I have everseen.If you care for nothing else I've said, let this be the one that stickswith you: the movie you see being advertised on television is not themovie you'll see in theaters. Don't let Hollywood fool you again.They've done it too many times. You deserve better than that, becauseyour money and, more importantly, your time are more valuable than"Running Scared."

DoughyMidget 2012-04-28 17:26:30

Beautiful movie ruined with a crowd pleasing end

I must agree with many of the comments on this movie, it is brilliant.I have found myself bored with just about every action movie that hascome out in the last few years, but I don't think I blinked oncethroughout this entire movie. The action was intense, gritty, graphic,and unique in every scene. That combined with a surprisingly goodperformance from Paul Walker and a very new and interesting script, Ienjoyed the movie right up until the last five minutes. There is atwist in the plot that was put there only to please movie goers who areobsessed with happy endings. The way the movie had been moving wasperfect, and much of my taste for it was ruined when they revealed thetwist.

Torgo_Approves 2012-04-26 05:06:24

You've got to be kidding me...

...or, as Paul Walker would say, "you've f***ng got to be f***ngkidding me, f**k!"DISCLAIMER: If you loved Running Scared, skip reading until the lastparagraph.****You know a movie has little to say when the hero expresses despair byyelling the F word at the top of his lungs. This is absolute trash, andits high rating says a lot more about the voters than about the movieitself. I was eager to see this film because it looked exciting; I hadno idea who the director was, people were saying that Paul Walker wasactually *good* in it, and overall it just looked like a fun thriller.Seriously now, people. Paul. Walker. Can't. Act. Period. He couldn'tact in The Fast and the Furious and he can't act here. His casualfamily dialogue sounds forced. His attempts at actually expressing somekind of emotion is like watching a sheep trying to fly. Oh, I'm sorry,what I meant to say was "like f***ing watching a f***ng sheep b*tch tryto f****ng fly"! IT'S JUST NOT GONNA HAPPEN. Paul Walker might be f**ngMichelangelo when it comes to waiting tables or working as a bouncer,but Hollywood ISN'T HIS SCENE!The plot is there...somewhere...something about a gun which Paul has torecover if he doesn't want to die, and some kid meeting hookers andpedophiles, and an abusive dad who likes John Wayne, and a mobboss...whatever. The plot is hidden under so many layers of overacting,wooden performances, annoying camera angles, simply UGLY cam filters,and uninteresting characters, it's hard to really follow it. If youenjoy bashing your face against the wall for an hour and a half, thisis the movie for you. I literally couldn't wait for it to be over, butmy friends insisted that we finished watching. That is, "Ilite-f****ng-rally couldn't f***ng wait for the f****ng piece of sh*tto be f***ng over"!!The child actor is unbelievably bad, but who can expect inspiredcasting from someone who obviously has no intention, or idea how tomake a good movie? Wayne Kramer, I know you were pandering to thelowest common denominator of You Got Served-watching, popcorn-munchingtrailer trash when you made this flick, and congratulations, you madeit. This movie is officially rated higher on IMDb than Eyes Wide Shut,Wild at Heart, and a lot of other movies which are light years betterthan Running...like Date Movie. Wow, Date Movie. Suddenly AdamCampbell's sad attempts not to laugh at his own jokes don't seem so badafter all. As much as I don't want to, I'll get back to "Running". It's obviouslytrying to be some sort of bastard son of Tarantino's earliest movies,but it comes off more as a sort of foul-mouthed, violent I Accuse MyParents. The script is desperately trying to be witty, quirky anddifferent, as well as foul-mouthed, controversial and shocking. Itmanages one of these things: being foul-mouthed. Otherwise it's arepetitive mess which will make your IQ drop. Of course, chances are ifyou "luuuuved" this flick an IQ drop won't make that much of adifference. I'll admit there's *one* line in the movie which isactually good - but that's because it's from SCARFACE! Seriously Wayne,if you're going to make a sh*tty movie, DON'T REFERENCE MOVIES THATMAKE YOUR WORK LOOK LIKE 'MANOS' THE HANDS OF FATE! It only makes yourviewers realize that they could be watching something much, muchbetter. At least it made me realize it. Anyway, after a pathetic climax set entirely in blue-tone, with lots ofblood and F words (and hockey pucks) Paul Walker reveals the shocking"twist" and the masterpiece of unoriginality is complete. Twists aregetting old. I don't need a movie to be Fight Club to enjoy it. I do,however, need some of the following (are you writing this down for yournext project, Wayne?):1) Good actors (no where to be seen in this movie)2) A solid script (I mean, "a f***ng solid f***ng script!")3) Good direction (and by that I *don't* mean filming people's chinsand cheeks at extreme closeups and putting a blue-gray filter overevery single scene, Wayne!)Running Scared has none of these things. What it does have is lots ofbadly filmed violence, lots of bad acting, lots of pseudo-controversy,lots of unbearable dialogue, lots of F-words, one of the worst kidactors in history (seriously, this guy makes the kids from Santa ClauseConquers the Martians look like Hayley Joel f***ng Osment!), and, well,a dude who's running scared. If blood, boobs and the never-endingrepetition of the word f**k is all you want, then this is for you. Hey,I never said there's anything wrong with that. I love blood, boobs andthe F word. But when these are the *only* positive virtues of a movie -and that movie is closer to IMDb's top 250 than American Psycho -something's not right! I urge you to watch this movie sober and realizehow truly pathetic it is. Did I mention it's foul-mouthed? Yeah. I guess I did. *****REVIEW FOR RUNNING SCARED'S FANS: This movie was the crap. I have neverseen anything as rubbish as this in my entire f****ng life. F***nggarbige! Now go back to the beginning of this review and follow theinstructions. Have a nice day.

2012-04-25 20:12:49

Freezing Movie

This review is from: Running Scared (DVD) About half way through the movie it freezes on any dvd player i try it on. It's a shame because it is a great movie and this is unacceptable.

mark-1731 2012-04-25 07:17:40

A Cut Above

Just seen the movie tonight, and having read mixed opinions and plentyof bull, i can tell you all that it's well worth parting with your cashto see it. The 18 rated version i saw tonight lived up to all myexpectations - plenty of brutal action with some unbelievably violentmoments, good dialogue and gritty, believable characters. Stand outmoments include the opening shootout and the ice rink scene which ithink is probably the bloodiest i have ever seen in any movie before(guy loses half his face with a shotgun blast, guy gets shotgun blastto his chest revealing his intestines before collapsing, guy gets hisear bitten off etc etc). The only thing which i thought was a bit of aletdown was a sideplot about a paedophile couple which i thought wasdistastefull and did'nt add anything to the movie and in my opinion wascompletely unnecessary. It also has a good plot twist towards the endwhich i won't reveal. Overall 8 out of 10 and a change to see a filmreleased over here before America.

sylore-1 2012-04-24 18:42:51

Loved this movie

This movie is probably one of the best I've seen in a long while. Theaction scenes were in your face and looked pretty damn realistic. Thespecial effects were freaking awesome and the director did some reallycool stuff which will blow you away. The acting was very believable andthe plot worked very well. It reminded me of Training Day the way thestory unfolded while we went along for the ride. The plot is freakingawesome and I can't wait to get the DVD. An AWESOME movie!! Definitelymust watch this again. The thing to remember when you watch this movieis that it's a ride just sit and enjoy it. I've never felt a need topromote a movie but this one is too good to let others miss it. It ispainful to watch in some scenes and at times you're actually totallydisgusted once you figure out what's going on. It's crazy the emotionsthat this movie brings out.

2012-04-19 14:43:48

Hey - Wasn't this an old Billy Crystal/Gregory Hines cop/buddy movie? Oh, no...wait a minute...

I was just a little hesitant to rent this bad boy, even after reading buckets of great reviews (notably a blurb or two from Ebert & Roeper). I mean, Paul Walker isn't anybody's idea of an actor. But I was bored as all h*** the day I walked in to the video store, and it was either between this, or Underworld: Evolution. And anyway, I loved director Wayne Kramer's 'The Cooler', so I thought what the heck. Took the chance. And boy, oh boy...The setup is, uh, fast and furious - sorry. A drug deal between some gangsters and mafiosos goes wrong. Badly. Dirty cops get shot, and mobster Joey Gazelle (Paul Walker) is charged to get rid of a tainted gun - a distinctive, silver-plated, snub-nosed .38. Gazelle takes the gun home and hides it in his basement, where his son and his son's best friend, Oleg, watch from hiding. Oleg steals the gun and shoots his abusive, meth-making, Russian Mobster stepfather, then disappears. Joey quickly figures out what happened and bolts after Oleg, hunting for the missing gun. The mobsters - Russian and Italian - and the dirty cops are following right behind, nervous and trigger-happy. Once Oleg goes on the run the movie jacks into high gear; and like Alice dropping through the rabbit-hole and her surreal journey, Oleg meets menacing characters every step of the way: from the faceless crack-addict to the psychotic wanna-be pimp Lester, to the real, insideous evil of the pedophile couple. Running Scared is as much a grown up fairy tale as it is a mobster or suspense movie. If you're squeamish at all, forget about it. The writing is spot-on, and I didn't spot the Big Twist until right when I was supposed to, which for this jaded old movie hound is saying something. Director Kramer has a knack for creating dark, violent, disturbing worlds where - much like real life - nobody is innocent and not even children are spared. As a star, Walker won't make anyone forget Steve McQueen any time soon, but he's pretty damn good here, believably portraying Joey's mounting frenzy over always being just one step behind Oleg and one step ahead of the bloodthirsty killers. The DVD extras weren't bad either: the usual behind-the-scenes back-slapping is here, but Kramer also gleefully throws in some really fascinating movie making techniques - my favorites showing how he shot the reverse gunshot/window scene (without the use of CG), and the swirling camera shot with Oleg in the pedophile playroom. Amazing, creative stuff.My only complaint, the one thing that kept me from giving Running Scared a full five-star rating, came at the very end, with a scene that was so far out whack with the tone of the rest of the film that it felt tacked on as a concession to the studio. But overall, this is a great third effort from a really talented filmmaker. And don't compare this guy to Tarantino. As much as there are some similarities - mostly in genre choice and all-out violent, kinetic energy - Kramer is in a class by himself. Can't wait for his next...

mhltan 2012-04-19 13:23:23

Wow...what a movie!!!

Audiences should not confuse this move with the action/comedy flickthat was made 20 years ago with Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal,because this is a whole different animal. I went to this movie with theexpectation that it would be just like one of those mob/gangster flicksthat they make a dime a dozen. However, I was very surprised howentertaining this movie actually was. This movie is definitely not forchildren and the 18 rating they gave here in the UK is absolutely rightin place. Paul Walker did an excellent job portraying a low level mobguy. This movie reminded me a lot of Tony Scott's directing style forMan on Fire and Domino. It has the same grit and toughness or evenmore. The supporting cast, notably Cameron Bright, Vera Farmiga, ChazzPalminteri, Johnny Messner ,Arthur Nascarella, John Noble, IvanaMilicevic, Karel Roden and Alex Neuberger, were fantastic.