"Running Scared" is an over-stylized, over-plotted acid trip that takes every opportunity to scream expletives, brandish a gun and splatter blood across the set -- and it rarely pauses to justify the circumstances or contemplate the repercussions.
Crafted very much in the MTV mode of programming, the movie ups the ante for in-your-face (and in-your-ears) twists and turns; the plot careens forward so recklessly that it dares viewers to look back and ponder: "Was that last scene cool? Or silly?" Here's a hint: most of them lean heavily in favor of "silly."
Undoubtedly, this was writer/director Wayne Kramer's intention: keep 'em guessing and they won't have time to realize how illogical this whole thing is. And in that sense, Kramer accomplished his goal: "Running Scared" packs two hours of non-stop action, albeit the brand that's action for action's sake -- more like violence for violence's sake.
Hollywood pretty-boy Paul Walker plays undercover FBI agent Joey Gazelle. It's almost cute the way Walker tries to sound like a tough guy, dropping more double negatives and f-bombs than you're likely to hear in a hick fight. "A" for effort, Paul, but you're going to have to try harder than that if you want us to forget that you're a "Tiger Beat" cover boy.
Joey's cover is so deep that it's easy to miss the filmmakers' clue at the beginning. When he finally tears open his shirt to reveal the wire near the end of the film, it might come as a shock to some viewers. This is one of a few such cheap tricks that are employed.
Considering the title of the film -- "Running Scared" -- and Joey's last name -- "Gazelle" -- the plot is revealed: Joey runs scared, and gazelle-like (quickly), for two hours as he tracks down a gun that links him and his gangster posse to the murders of two crooked cops. Instead of chucking the gun like he's been instructed, Joey stores it in his evidence locker. Which is in his basement. Which is where his 10-year-old son, Nicky (Alex Neuberger), and his pal Oleg (Cameron Bright) play.
As if that doesn't fulfill his ignoramus quota for the evening, Joey stashes the gun while the two runts are down there -- so as to most effectively tease their adolescent curiosities. It doesn't take long before bullets are spraying out of Oleg's house and Joey runs over to find the film's most eccentric character, the John Wayne-obsessed, Russian immigrant Ivan Yugorsky (John Noble) -- Oleg's paternal guardian -- wounded. Oleg shot him for beating his mother (don't be surprised: this film sets a record for "times a 10-year-old brandishes a pistol") and then took off. Ivan describes the gun, a silver snub-nosed pistol, and Joey has a palpable "Man, I am sooooo screwed" moment.
If Joey doesn't get that pistol back, he's a dead man, undercover agent or not. Commence Joey chasing down the pistol as it exchanges several hands through a myriad of unlikely plot twists, the entire while screaming obnoxiously and swinging his gun around. The icing on the cake: he never does so without dragging his son Nicky or Oleg into the line of fire. Maybe Joey shouldn't have merely skimmed over the chapter "How to be a Good Undercover FBI Agent & Guardian" in the manual.
"Running Scared", rated R for pervasive brutal violence and language, sexuality and drug content, is playing everywhere.
