Running Scared Review
by samseescinema (sammeriam AT comcast DOT net)February 24th, 2006
Running Scared
reviewed by Sam Osborn of www.samseescinema.com
rating: 3 out of 4
Director: Wayne Kramer
Cast: Paul Walker, Vera Farmiga, Johnny Messner, Chazz Palminteri Screenplay: Wayne Kramer
MPAA Classification: R (pervasive strong brutal violence and language, sexuality and drug content)
Every director, somewhere deep down inside, wants to do the mob film. A good many actually do. The criterion involves many uses of profanity, mountains of bullets expelled, and for characters to be named Joey, Tony, Frankie, and Tommy. Wayne Kramer's version does fine with its narrative, spelling out a mildly intriguing narrative while tossing in some overt sub-plots for good measure. But his film's real ace lies in Running Scared's style.
Paul Walker turns his one-week-old character from Eight Below on his head to play Joey Gazelle, a husband to a street smart woman, Teresa (Vera Farmiga), and father to 10 year-old hockey fanatic Nicky (Alex Neuberger). He runs with the Perello Gang, led by Frankie Perello (Arthur J Nascarella) and his son Tommy (Johnny Messner), who've recently struck a deal with the Russian Mob, involving Joey's neighbor Ivan Yugorsky (John Noble), whose son, Oleg (Cameron Bright) is Nicky's best friend. At a shady afternoon drug sale, the Perello gang is stuck up by a gang of robbers. A bloody gunfight ensues, leaving most of the Perello gang intact, but only one of the robbers still breathing. But as the last corpse hits the dusty floorboard, the robber's wallet is flipped open to reveal the gang to be dirty cops; the survivor happening to be Mai Thai lovin' Detective Rydell (Chazz Palminteri), now determined to get his two million from the drug sale. All would be fine and good if the shiny snub-nose pistol that offed the cops was crisply disposed of. This responsibility is handed over to Joey, who proceeds to lose it to 10 year-old Oleg Yugorsky who fires the gun upon his legal father Ivan. Now the piece is on the run with Oleg-running from both the cops and his parents-with Joey avoiding Detective Rydell, the clean police, and his own gang who would not take kindly to such a failure of execution. Making matters worse, The Russian Mob believes Joey gave Oleg the gun to shoot his father and muck up the deal with the Perellos. Oh, the confusion.
The whole story is slightly reminiscent of Domino; with a muddy triangle of coincidence and twisty confusion that ultimately spells out body bags. Plot isn't either film's strong point, each often leaving us in the dust while we're dazzled by the director's stylistic vision. But Running Scared keeps its narrative lines straighter than Domino, Director/Writer Wayne Kramer not quite speeding up his film to what Tony Scott lovingly referred to as "Bounty Hunting on Acid." There are no hand-cranked cameras and six frame per second shutter speeds (like Domino used to strut its stuff), but Kramer certainly has an aversion to any cut lasting longer than three seconds, placing him comfortably under the "MTV Director" category of
filmmakers.
The style works by forgiving-and sometimes giving reason-to the more absurd points of the narrative. For instance, when Oleg gets abducted by pedophiles and locks himself in the bathroom, the silhouettes of amphibious monsters is pardoned by Kramer's jittery style. We realize the absurdity of many of these situations, but we're having too much fun with the extremity of Kramer's vision to ever care.
That's not to say, however, that Kramer's story lacks solemnity. In its own frenetic way, Running Scared addresses parenthood and domestic abuse with an underhanded sincerity. Much of it is blurred by the amount of blood being catapulted onto walls, but Kramer's more sappy pathos are certainly accounted for.
Critics of Paul Walker will certainly find little to smirk and mutter about with his Joey Gazelle. He pulls some plugs here, finally showing a range with his performance. Whether or not he's old enough to convincingly be considered a father is still undecided, but his attempts are at least noteworthy. The mobster roles are all performed successfully with sly dialect and Italian accents, and the Russian roles are clichéd and obtuse as we lovingly expected. The real clinger in Running Scared's cast is Vera Farmiga as Teresa Gazelle. Her control of the pedophilia sequence is easily the most memorable of the film; it's ending spurring rousing cheers and applause from the audience. She brings a terse sincerity to her performance, reversing the common role of wife of a gangster (think the inverse of Carmela Soprano).
Wayne Kramer seems aware that what he's attempting with Running Scared isn't an original effort. And he doesn't try to reinvent the wheel here. In this same vein, Kramer throws in a piling multitude of filmic references for good measure. Remnants of The Godfather, Scarface, John Wayne, Mastercard and Pepsi commercials, and even Persona all rear their heads to Kramer's delight. Running Scared is another no nonsense, ball busting, pistol packing mobster flick; only, Wayne Kramer hits the formula with a trippy wattage of adrenaline, heightening his film into a satisfying experience.
-www.samseescinema.com
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