Action movies as of late have been unable to compete with the great shoot-em-up, over-the-top flicks of the '80s and early '90s. This year's "Running Scared" finally reinstates the key piece required for a good action movie: senseless, gratuitous violence.
Wayne Kramer ("The Cooler") both directed and wrote the film. He brings a fresh and daring approach to cinematography, featuring many awe-inspiring CGI sequences and innovative, first person camera angles. His bold, no-holds-barred approach to the action scenes is both fierce and slightly disturbing.
Movies in the genre must be held up to the standards set by "The Terminator" and the all time greatest, "Die Hard." Unfortunately, recent action movies have relied on flashy cars and rappers who can't act. They oftentimes recycle the same buddy story about two guys of different races who don't like each other at first but end up being diehard buddies.
What are all these action movies missing? Action! R-rated non-stop shoot-outs, explosions, fighting, sex, and historic one-liners. While the storyline may not be earth shattering, the effects and action scenes are what keep audiences excited.
Paul Walker ("Into the Blue") stars as Joey, a low level soldier in the Italian mob. When a drug deal goes wrong and a cop gets killed, Joey is supposed to get rid of the gun. Instead, his son's 11-year-old friend Oleg finds it and uses it to shoot his abusive, crystal meth-dealing, Russian mob father.
It's up to Joey to find Oleg and the gun before the Italians, the Russians, the Mexicans, the cops, the pimps, the hookers, the crack heads and drug dealers do. What ensues is a dark journey through the criminal underbelly of society, which results in non-stop action the whole way through.
Be warned, "Running Scared" is not for the weak at heart. The blood and gore factor is extreme, and some of the content is hideously gruesome. At one point Oleg finds himself in the hands of a couple that rapes and mutilates children. The film pushes boundaries previously set in action movies, but today's desensitized audiences should be able to separate fantasy from reality.
It may be hard to imagine Paul Walker as a tough character that shoots first and asks questions later. However, Walker did a convincing job, and his performance was his best so far. It is refreshing to see him step out of the pretty boy role and watch him get down and dirty.
In a time where the action stars of the golden age are past their prime, and action stars of today are unwilling to take on grittier, more vulgar roles, anyone who can play a convincing bad a** is welcomed. Hopefully Walker is able to step out of his typecasting and doesn't follow this up with "She's All That 2."
Walker was not the only star in the film. His wife Teresa, played by Vera Farmiga ("The Manchurian Candidate") adds much needed elements of heart and optimism to the story.
Cameron Bright ("Godsend") plays Oleg, the audacious boy who runs scared from one horrible situation to the next. Bright convincingly plays a child who remains emotionless and undeterred in the face of malevolence. Besides the heroes of the film, "Running Scared" features a wide variety of colorful and contemptible villains who seem to get wilder and wilder as the story progresses towards its bloody climax.
If you've been craving hard-boiled, uncensored violence since "Rambo II" came out in '85, then this is definitely the movie for you.
