Writer-director Wayne Kramer's Running Scared\ will be dismissed as yet another derivative action fiasco tricked out with trippy visuals and restless, pointlessly elaborate camerawork, but those who watch it closely will find one of the most subversive products to come out of mainstream Hollywood in some time. ""Running Scared"" is possibly the most brazenly over-the-top action film since Schwarzenegger made luggage of loose alligators in ""Eraser.""
Its extremely simple plot can be described as succinctly as a New York Times bestseller list description: man tries to find kid with hot gun. Paul Walker is Joey Gazelle (because he is running scared, get it?), an errand boy low on the Mafia food chain, who is in charge of hiding incriminating evidence in his basement. After a brutal firefight involving the dispatching of several crooked cops, Joey hides the used gun, only to have it purloined by his son's Russian friend Oleg (Cameron Bright). Oleg shoots his abusive father and takes off, and once Joey instantaneously figures out what happened, he begins a frantic search for the boy and his gun.
This may sound like every other action movie ever made, but that description does not do the film justice. ""Running Scared"" is like an amalgamation of ""After Hours,"" ""Go"" and Tony Scott's obnoxious ""Man on Fire""—a grimy fairy tale populated by drugged-out pimps, pimped-out druggies and an assortment of other unsavory creatures of the night. This is the kind of movie where a 10-year-old narrowly escapes cops, mobsters and Russian sickos only to discover he is being kidnapped by a couple of yuppie pedophiles who take one look at him and merrily exclaim, ""My goodness, I think we've picked up a stray."" In fact, the pedophile-related subplot, which allows Joey's nervy wife (Vera Farmiga) to participate in the squalid proceedings, is far and away the best part of the movie.
This film is gleefully outrageous and disgusting, and is essentially an infectiously enjoyable group of violent set pieces greased along with testosterone, one of which has the Mob torturing Joey by repeatedly hitting him in the face with some well-placed slapshots. Many people, most likely male, will love these types of scenes and will detest it once the obligatory tacked-on happy ending rolls around. You will hear a lot of complaints regarding the final 20 minutes, which many will say is nonsensical and stupid.
With the ending, Kramer reveals just how sneaky this nasty little parody is. His finale literally and intentionally makes no logical sense, with a couple of howler twists, the tease of tragedy and a groaner of a sunny ending. If you ever whined about how dumb action movies often cop out at the end, you will appreciate what Kramer is mocking. Those who feel they have been cheated by this or use it to further emphasize how bad ""Running Scared"" is have missed the point altogether: they have taken this film at face value.
""Running Scared"" isn't exactly a step forward for Kramer, but it's a frantically entertaining freak show with an ample surplus of sleaze. Although it occasionally stalls in between grotesqueries, Kramer keeps the pace lightning-quick. He slyly pokes fun at most of today's ""hip"" action movie conventions, all the while whetting our appetite for the next outlandish, tongue-in-cheek showstopper he has got up his sleeve. Like ""Starship Troopers,"" it is gratuitous because action movies are intrinsically gratuitous, and to knock ""Running Scared"" for being too nihilistic or offensive is a sign of misunderstanding. In Kramer's insidious hands, ""Running Scared"" is the stupidest, most gratuitous, most distasteful film out right now. Enjoy it.
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