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Running Scared (R, 2006)

common sense media says

Grim tale of revenge and fear. Not for kids.

parents & educators say
  • 33% say violence is an issue
  • 33% say sexual content is an issue
See all 4 reviews | Review it

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this movie is absolutely not for kids. It's determinedly violent and disturbing. Characters include gangsters, drug dealers, junkies, an abusive stepfather, a prostitute and pimp, and a couple who kidnap children to film in pornographic situations: all are explicitly indicated, if not shown on screen; one scene has characters in a strip bar, where a dancer appears in a brief full frontal nudity shot. Murders and abuses are committed with a variety of weapons, including guns, knives, and hockey pucks; characters appear in various states of undress; language is excessive (over 300 uses of "f--k").

Positive messages: Gangsters and drug dealers cheat each other; cops are corrupt; a whitebread couple maintains a kiddie porn studio and kidnapped children in their apartment.
Violence: Pretty much nonstop: shootings (at film's start, a gang of drug dealers fights corrupt cops, with blood, guns, skewed angles, and fast-cuts; a child shoots his abusive stepfather); knifings; fist fights; an assault with a welding torch; a prolonged assault on our hero with hockey pucks, leaving his face smashed and bloodied; and an explosion set by a house's inhabitant in order to commit suicide.
Sex: A full frontal shot of a female dancer in a strip bar; discussions of prostitution and intercourse; women in tight outfits, including an elaborately made-up prostitute who fights with her pimp on the sidewalk; a well-heeled couple kidnap children to film them in sexual situations (this is not explicit but clearly and disturbingly implied).
Language: Some 300 f-words, plus slang for genitals and multiple uses of "ass," "hell" and s-word.
Consumerism: Not applicable.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking: Characters are obvious drug addicts (shaking and sweating), drink liquor, smoke cigarettes and cigars.
Our ratings and reviews are informed by child development guidelines. Learn more.

More on Running Scared

What to talk about

Talk to your kids
Families can talk about the extreme violence here -- is it necessary? Is it here to make a point, or just to shock? They can also talk about the film's stereotyping of gangsters, bad cops, prostitutes, pimps: Though the movie exaggerates for sensational effect, how might stereotypes reinforce viewer prejudices and narrow-mindedness?

What's the story?

What's the story?
When a drug deal goes wrong and some cops are shot and killed, low-level mafia gangster Joey (Paul Walker) is ordered by his boss to get rid of the gun. Unfortunately, Joey's neighbor's needy son Oleg (Cameron Bright) finds the gun and shoots his abusive stepfather Anzor (Karel Roden). When Anzor lives, his relatives -- Russian mobsters -- decide to kill whoever is responsible, as soon as they can determine his identity. This chase comprises the bulk of the film's action, as Joey tries to get the gun back from Oleg and all sorts of bad guys try to kill Joey and the kid. When Joey's wife Teresa tracks down the missing Oleg, she finds he's been kidnapped into a kiddie porn-making household run by Dez (Bruce Altman) and Edele (Elizabeth Mitchell). Here Teresa stumbles into her own version of the stalker flick, where she's the Last Girl, forced to take up the vengeful violence that she's lamented in her husband, only hers is almost excessively motivated.

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 
As RUNNING SCARED thematizes accident and regret, it maintains an effective aesthetic remove: Oleg's emotional blankness, Anzor's cartoonish excess, even Joey's frantic work to keep all the facts and fictions contained -- are reduced to fast cuts and zappy pans. It looks cool, sometimes disquieting (too close up), but it's not precisely probing. It gives good surface.

Though Joey seems endlessly able to take the next step in his pursuit of the gun, the gangsters he's up against are so broadly caricatured that it's not long before they're more tiresome than nervous-making. As much as it becomes his plot, Joey's pain -- he's bashed with hockey pucks near film's end -- also aligns him with the women and kids, that is, not only Teresa and Oleg, but also his own son Nicky (Alex Neuberger), and Anzor's fragile immigrant/addict wife Mila (Ivana Milicevic), who once imagined "America" held promise of freedom and riches.

Movie themes & details

Movie Details
Studio: New Line
Director: Wayne Kramer
Cast: Cameron Bright, Paul Walker, Vera Farmiga
Genre: Drama
Run time: 122 minutes
Theatrical release: February 24, 2006
DVD release: June 6, 2006
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA explanation: pervasive strong brutal violence and language, sexuality and drug content.
This review was written by Cynthia Fuchs
 
 

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What parents & educators say

14
Based on 3 parent & educator reviews:
  • 33% say violence is an issue
  • 33% say sexual content is an issue
  • 33% say language is an issue
Read the reviews

Most useful reviews by all members

elizabeth76
adult
 
Crazy movie, lots of insane action, but VERY EXPLICIT
This movie had an awesome story line and perfect actors for it. But like most movies like this there is definitely an age limit. VIOLENCE: TONS of blood, shooting, and fowl language, tons of F words. A man and woman sufficate children in bags after they use them in sex videos.(no sex video is shown or making of one but is implied) Beating of women, especially a prostitute by her pimp. SEX: A man and woman have a "quicky" in the kitchen, nothing sensitive shown but it is rough sex on a washing machine. In a strip club there are 2 FULLY naked women. (breast with nipples and genitals are shown as they dance provocatively on their pole) A prostitutes breast is shown in one scene and shes dressed in a tight revealing outfit for her pimp. Women are shown mainly as sexual objects and not much as human beings, they are not very respected in here.
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bethlthomson
adult
 
cribby
Not for kids at all only teens.
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uytt2
adult
14
 
watch alone
good movie the hockey puck scene is disturbing lots of blood language and nudity
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eastside01
teen, 17 years old
12
 
Run to see this Over-the-top thriller.
Forget Fast and furious Actor Paul Walker is so over the top that it will leave audiences mesmerized here. Director Wayne Kramer(The Cooler) gives us a great film that has extreme violence, extreme language, and an extremely great story. It's about a man who is mixed in with the mob and this is no Godfather mob this is over the top crazy mob, and it's great. If you read this review go out to blockbuster of hollywood video and rent this.
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twolf2012
 
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helped me decide (2) | had useful details (2) | read my mind (2)

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ON: Content is appropriate for kids this age.
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