Running Scared

[dantespyke]

Has anyone seen this? I saw it opening day and I gotta say it was much much better than expected. Great plot and characters. Reminded me alot of Sin City and a bit of pulp fiction. I reccomend you all see it....now. Id Give it 9/10

[dantespyke]

Its not for everyone because its very violent but for those who dont care its awesome

[Mr. Cookie]

Its not for everyone because its very violent but for those who dont care its awesome

well if it's violent, it's a movie fo' me...I'll check it out...

[DarkMan]

never heard it before, but ill look out for it...

[dantespyke]

you can watch the first 6 minutes of it online at
http://www.runningscaredmovie.com its worth it

[DarkMan]

you can watch the first 6 minutes of it online at
http://www.runningscaredmovie.com its worth it

tnx ill check it after school

[$0 R3@L]

yeh i hadnt heard of this but will defo look into it dude,thx

[DarkMan]

found some info on Running Scared..

If you are amongst the few that happened to catch director Wayne Kramer's excellent debut feature, The Cooler, you are already aware of the director's talent as well as his notion for taking reality and skewing it just enough to impart his own distinct vision. The Cooler was an underappreciated work (worldwide theatrical gross to date is a meager $10 million) that featured fantastic performances from William H. Macy, Maria Bello, Alec Baldwin and Ron Livingston. After viewing The Cooler, I was shocked to learn that it was Kramer's feature debut. Therefore, it was with high hopes and great anticipation that I went into the screening of his sophomore effort, Running Scared.

Taking a heavy dose of influence from the world of 70's cop flicks mixed with a bit of Grimm's Fairy Tales (yes, you heard me right), Running Scared is written and directed by Kramer.

Joey Gazelle (Paul Walker) is a bottom-feeding mob thug for the Perello Family in New Jersey. He is trying his best to balance a family life with his high-risk career, but it's not going quite as smoothly as he might hope. When Joey is given the task of disposing of a gun used in a mob cop shooting, he temporarily hides the gun within his house. Before he can retrieve the weapon, his son (Alex Neuberger) and son's friend Oleg (Cameron Bright) find the weapon. Oleg is caught in a dramatic family situation of his own, with an abusive stepfather named Anzor (Karel Roden), who routinely beats him and his mother. Oleg takes the gun and shoots his stepfather. As it turns out, Anzor has a connection to the Perello's rival family, the Russian Yugorsky mob. Now Joey finds himself, his wife Teresa (Vera Farmiga) and son in grave danger. Oleg himself is on the run and Joey is trying to track him and the gun down before the Perello's and Yugorsky's get to him first. During the course of the night, Oleg finds himself mixed up with a wild assortment of characters, from pimps and prostitutes to mob hitmen and child molesters. This is a night that could land poor Oleg in years of therapy.

Running Scared opens with an eye-popping scene of extreme violence. It's part True Romance, part Lethal Weapon and part Matrix. The scene is extremely visual, with wildly shifting camera work, fast edits, bullet time and blood, blood, blood. It's exciting and harrowing all at once. Just as you get into the scenes of action, you are caught off guard with yet another loud band or an unexpected casualty. The scene itself is brilliantly conceived and opens the film on a very enthusiastic note for action fans - sort of an "anything can happen" introduction to our story.

Those expecting the rest of the movie to follow at this same pace may find themselves disappointed. From the opening sequence, Running Scared shifts to the gritty underbelly of Jersey, transitioning between Joey's search for Oleg and Oleg's disturbing adventures. Violence persists here and there throughout (including an ending hockey torture sequence that should make even Wayne Gretzky wince). Said to be influenced in some ways by the dark children's tales of Grimm's fairytales, Scared is by no means a straightforward story. Much of the film exists in an almost dream-like state, with sequences bordering on surrealism.

Wayne Kramer has written a terrific script, but as with his debut The Cooler, it feels less like a mainstream film and more like an indie, at least in terms of current cinema. New Line is going for a mainstream release, but I have my doubts that mainstream America will connect with this type of material. It's unfortunate, but it's a point of fact in these modern times of multiplexes and brain-dead cinema. After all, we are living in a world where two terrifically bad films, When a Stranger Calls and Date Movie, have already opened to over $20 million dollars each this month alone. People don't want to think at the movies any more. Those stumbling into the theater expecting a simplistic Paul Walker cop movie, a mindless shoot-em'-up, will probably leave the movie scratching their heads.

Kramer is aiming to make a fairytale analogy during the course of the story, but it seems to come through a little too late. I think some animated stills or fully animated sequences in the film's beginning may have better conveyed this analogy, but as it is, the only specific reference comes in the film's ending credits. There are more than a few trippy moments in the film beforehand, but I feel like you'd have to be thinking pretty deeply about the film while watching it to make the connection any earlier. Again, there goes that "thinking" thing again that mainstream movie audiences don't want to do these days.

Paul Walker is exceptional in this film, as is young Cameron Bright, who is probably best known for his excellent performance opposite Nicole Kidman in Birth. Walker is most recognized as the guy from the Fast and the Furious films or unfortunate misfires such as Timeline. He's already received the occasional ribbing from critics, but he's definitely sporting some skills that he hasn't really had the opportunity to hone. He was very good in Noel, but no one saw it. Hopefully a few more will see this one, but I don't think it will be his "acting" breakout. For Bright, his career continues to look, well, bright. He is a supremely talented actor for any age, already proving his chops amongst some of the best actors in Hollywood.

Finally, rounding out the acting work is a great performance from Vera Farmiga, who is sexy, brave and emotional in her performance as the loving wife and mother Teresa, who wants to understand and support her husband, but is often kept in the dark as to his many, many secrets. Farmiga is a promising actress to watch out for.

Running Scared doesn't always work. All the same, it keeps up a nice pacing and throws in enough clever twists to keep the story interesting. Personally, I always find it refreshing when a director strays from the well-worn path of traditional storytelling and takes some risks. Wayne Kramer remains an extremely promising director whose future work I am very much looking forward to seeing. Running Scared misfires in some ways and works very well in others. As much as it is uneven, I enjoyed the experience. It's not for everyone, but for those open to something a little different, Running Scared is a generally rewarding experience.

source: http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/691/691280p1.html

[rap_gurl]

Since I live outside the US I cant watch it, would love to tho.
Heard its supossed to be real good.