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Paul Walker, Cameron Bright, Vera Farmiga, Karel Roden, Johnny Messner ... see more see more... , Ivana Milicevic , Chazz Palminteri , Alex Neuberger , Michael Cudlitz , Bruce Altman , Elizabeth Mitchell , Arthur J. Nascarella , John Noble , Idalis de Leon , David Warshofsky

A minor crook finds himself in major peril when a "hot" weapon goes missing in this violent crime thriller. Joey Gazelle (Paul Walker) is a low-level "mechanic" in the Mafia who hopes to rise through ... read more read more...the ranks by doing whatever is needed. One night, a drug deal goes very wrong when police show up and try to close down the operation; shots break out and a battle ensues, with a pair of of cops meeting a particularly violent fate at bad end of a gun barrel. Joey is given the gun that killed the policemen and is told to make it disappear so it can't be used as evidence; however, before he can do that, the weapon is stolen by Oleg (Cameron Bright), a friend of Joey's young son, who takes the pistol and uses it to shoot his abusive stepfather. Now that the gun is implicated in high profile crimes, it's vitally important that Joey find it as soon as possible, but his search for the firearm is complicated by the fact that Oleg's stepdad is affiliated with a rival gang of Russian mobsters, and that Rydell (Chazz Palminteri), a seriously corrupt police detective, is hot on Joey's trail. Joey's search for the gun takes him through the grim criminal netherworld of the city, where he must face off against nearly every sort of crook, con artist, and deviate that has ever walked the earth. Running Scared is from writer-director Wayne Kramer, who made a name for himself with the well-reviewed independent feature The Cooler. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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76% liked it

131,980 ratings

Critics

40% liked it

129 critics

R, 1 hr. 59 min.

Directed by: Wayne Kramer

Release Date: February 24, 2006

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DVD Release Date: June 6, 2006

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Stats: 6,846 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (6,846)

  • 76Majikat
    February 25, 2012
    76Majikat
    One problem roles into a series of very unfortunate events in this thrilling Action movie. A grittier role than most of Walker's and one that suited him well. An evolving story, with some great visual effects from the camera shots. You don't have time to be bored!!!
  • fb1028803305
    October 18, 2011
    fb1028803305
    A passionate and excellently made action film where writer/director Kramer invites you to interpret and engage with his hyper-reality. A tour through America's problems or a fairytale? His characters are grotesques and his world is simultaneously hilarious and painfully sad.

    I d... read moreon't know why this isn't considered a modern day classic. Die Hard meets Fellini? No. But maybe.
  • xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    July 27, 2011
    xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    Ready. Aim. Run.

    Good movie, lots of action, bullets flying around all the time, people getting killed, if that's the type of movie you want plus a little twist at the end, this is the movie for you. I saw some action scenes which were new to me and that was kinda good. The acti... read moreng was pretty decent nothing bad to say or overwhelming.

    Joey Gazelle is a low level mob flanker who gets told to dispose of a gun used for killing some dirty cops. Joey however, hides the gun in the drywall of his basement instead of tossing them in the river. When Joey's 10 year-old son and his best friend, Oleg, witness Joey hiding some guns from a botched drug deal, Oleg steals the gun -- a snub-nosed .38 -- and shoots his abusive stepfather with it. Things would be bad enough if the stepfather didn't happen to be the nephew of a psychotic Russian mob boss... who happens to be in business with Joey's crew on a gasoline scam. But now Joey's also got the surviving dirty cop from the botched drug deal on his case... and that hot .38 out there on the street, changing hands in an underworld of freaks, pimps, hookers and pedophiles. As well as Oleg, who can connect Joey to the gun. And even if Joey can make it through the night, he's still got to answer to his wife...
  • TheDudeLebowski65
    May 15, 2011
    TheDudeLebowski65
    Running Scared has got to be one of Paul Walker's best films. Considering that I don't like a lot of his work, for the exception of this film, Joy Ride and his brief role in Flags Of Our Fathers, he is a pretty bad actor. Running Scared however is a film that surprised me. It's s... read morehould be a surprise that Paul Walker has made yet another watchable film, because as I've just said, nearly all his films suck. Running Scared though is an interesting and well crafted mob thriller where two kids get their hands on a gun that was used by the mob to shoot a cop. What follows is a desperate attempt to find the gun before the mob do. Running Scared is a fairly good film with a fairly interesting story. But the film also has a few things that could have been improved on. Paul Walker gives actually a decent enough performance here and so does most of the cast. But with this film expect something average and you won't be disappointed. The film could have had a slightly better cast at hand, and I think that the best actress in the film in terms of acting quality is Vera Farminga, everything she does is terrific and well done. I can't say that Running Scared is an excellent film, but what I can say is that it's a fairly good film with enough of a decent story to keep you entertained. Considering that this is for the most part a Paul Walker film, the film delivers enough thrills and good action to appeal to the viewer. However I do think that there was plenty of room for improvement. Director Wayne Kramer doesn't hold back at delivering a film that bold, brutal and violent. Kramer doesn't shy away from violent content and he plunges the viewer in world that makes you feel uncomfortable and creeped out. Running Scared is a good film that could have been something great, but never quit gets there in terms of astounding storytelling and good acting. The acting and story are good but aren't exactly excellent material. The viewer is presented with a crime thriller that delivers something that almost delivers everything to thrill, but never gets there.
  • CloudStrife84
    March 10, 2011
    CloudStrife84
    Paul Walker will never make into my favourite actors list, but he does pretty well for himself in this film. With its forced visual effects and ambitions to be stylish, however, it comes off as a rather pretentious production. Action-wise, it's quite exciting though. There's cert... read moreainly no shortage of adrenaline and the plot is interesting to follow. An added bonus is we get treated to Vera Farmiga's sexy behind. Those godess-like buns sure kept my attention. Anyhow, before I drift off the subject here, this was a solidly made crime flick. A bit contrived as mentioned, but entertaining either way.
  • matertenebraum
    April 8, 2010
    matertenebraum
    Nobody makes movies like Running Scared any more. Five years ago, this film would've been toned down by whichever studio released it in order for it to receive the lowest certificate possible. Bravo, then, to writer/director Wayne Kramer for sticking to his guns and delivering on... read moree of the most uncompromising, memorable and downright brutal thrillers in recent memory.

    Joey (Paul Walker) is a small-time mobster hired to dispose of 'hot' guns for his bosses. One of these weapons (with particular value over all the others) falls into the hands of his son's best friend and is used to startling effect. Here is where the real fun starts. Joey can find neither the child nor the weapon in question, and he has only 18 hours before either the police, the Russian mafia or his own employers catch up with him.

    Walker is surprisingly impressive considering the strictly one-dimensional roles he played in movies such as The Fast And The Furious and Into The Blue. Here he plays Joey as someone well aware of his impending death should he fail, and throughout he is totally watchable and believable. No more will audiences giggle to themselves every time he delivers a dud of a line.

    The story occasionally flags, particularly in the middle of the film, but Kramer is not afraid to play with the camera-work to keep the audience's attention - whip-pans, CSI-style extreme close-ups, super slow-motion, sepia filters and colour bleaching are all used to give the film a gritty and somewhat unique look - take, for instance, the kitchen shooting about half an hour into the film, played from multiple viewpoints in both forward and reverse.

    The film's charcoal-dark tone may be too relentless for some viewers, and the pedophilia subplot could be considered as taking things one step too far, but as long as you've got a strong stomach and can face hearing lashings of creative swearing, there's a lot of enjoyment to be found here. Unbearably tense, visually inventive and superbly acted from start to finish, Running Scared is the first real surprise of 2006 - it pulls no punches and thrills from its excessively bloody opening to its foul-mouthed conclusion.
  • skactopus
    December 12, 2009
    skactopus
    Wayne Kramer's Running Scared is a mess of a crime thriller.

    The concept for the film is an interesting one, but the execution is where it all comes apart. The story pans out in a little under 1 days time and this can be a nice touch for people that enjoy this type of t

    ... read moreime frame in a movie. For the most part, a lot does happen in this picture and a bunch of it is violent nonsense. Some of the material also feels unnecessary, as if it is there to fill up 2 hours of screen time for a bunch of uninteresting characters.

    The editing is a bit erratic. Some if it works; most of it doesn't. The same goes for the multiple rewind and flashback type scenarios. If anything, it just livens up the movie.

    The violence and profanity is extremely high. The swearing, at times, seem natural, since it is hard to picture all of it being part of an actual script. It can and does get annoying though.

    There isn't much to the acting. Paul Walker is OK, but nobody is close to winning any awards in here.

    Running Scared is a film that can satiate a person's violent needs, but that is about it. There is nothing else to say, except to run away from Running Scared.
  • LWOODS04
    December 9, 2009
    LWOODS04
    Two 10-year-old boys get their hands on a mob gun with which a cop was shot. The father of one of the boys must take to the streets in a desperate bid to recover the weapon before the mob finds out it's missing.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Act... read moreion from start to finish. Liked the twist at the end. Got a lot of mixed recommendations on this movie. I ended up liking it. Thought Paul Walker was great. Really surprised how good Cameron Bright was. Good watch.
  • thefog1331
    November 8, 2009
    thefog1331
    Hyper violent crime-thriller that's never dull during its 2 hour running time. The MTV editing gets a little annoying at times but otherwise it's a well made bloody good time.
  • imrealgod
    January 7, 2009
    imrealgod
    Excellent action thriller.

View All Running Scared Reviews

Critic Reviews

Hap Erstein
March 11, 2006
Hap Erstein, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Presumably patterned after Robert Rodriguez's Sin City, but substantially more graphic, there is surely an audience for this empty brutality, but you would not want to know anyone to whom this picture... Full Review

Andrew Sarris
March 1, 2006
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

The end result of all these cross-mob confrontations is an orgy of nihilistic violence that is curiously exhilarating, I am almost ashamed to say. Full Review

Richard Roeper
February 27, 2006
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

It's ugly and it's vile and it's disgusting and it's creepy and it just got tiresome. Full Review

Liam Lacey
February 24, 2006
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

Ethnic stereotyping, moral qualms and plot improbabilities aside, you just wish a movie like Running Scared wasn't so anxious to be exciting all the time: It gets so monotonous. Full Review

Allison Benedikt
February 24, 2006
Allison Benedikt, Chicago Tribune

There's clearly supposed to be tension between Joey's good and bad sides. Sure, he's a mobster, but he's also a family man, which makes him... gray. (Not black and white = very sophisticated.) Full Review

Geoff Pevere
February 24, 2006
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

In the opening minutes of Running Scared, a drug deal goes bad and takes the entire movie with it. Full Review

Justin Chang
February 24, 2006
Justin Chang, Variety

A ferociously energetic piece of filmmaking, Running Scared makes the seedy Vegas milieu of writer-director Wayne KramerWayne Kramer's first feature, The Cooler, look as tasteful as The Sound of Music. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
February 24, 2006
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Running Scared is for people who like movies, who don't need to have a movie mean something in order to enjoy it and who can delight at the sheer craft of a story designed only to shock, amuse and hol... Full Review

Roger Moore
February 24, 2006
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

It's borderline irresponsible, a virtual horror movie of a gangster thriller. Full Review

Kyle Smith
February 24, 2006
Kyle Smith, New York Post

Kramer seems to be aping Quentin Tarantino's brilliant tangents in Pulp Fiction, but he doesn't have Tarantino's imagination or gift for dialogue.

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Running Scared Trivia

  • In what 2006 movie does Paul Walker go through many obstacles to get a gun back from a kid that stole it from him?  Answer »
  • Who plays Paul Walker's wife in the 2006 movie, "Running Scared"?  Answer »
  • Paul Walker-Cameron Bright star in this 2006 thriller....   Answer »
  • In which movie is one of the first scenes opened by someone shooting someone else's private parts off ??   Answer »
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