[psycho d]

Running Scared (2006). The initial feel of this flick was that of a foreboding sense that it might be nothing more than a mundane shoot-em-up whose greatest administration would be to steal a couple of hours of my life. But each turn of its twisted plot's screws served to create an action flick whose style can fairly be compared to Johnnie To. Reparations are even made to its rare predictability through its efforts to animate a delightful feast for the eyes in nigh every action scene. And plot holes be damned, this was simply too much fun to be concerned with such contrived mischief making. Paul Walker decimates his pretty boy aura through the frantic role that destiny has gifted him. That he is barely keeping himself together with mounting desperation believably leaks out; here is a character we want to believe and root for. Vera Farmiga is stunningly fabulous. Her scene with the creepy family is one of memorably breathtaking puissance. Detractors have complained that every editing trick known to mortal man was employed here, and I say yes but to great effect. Wayne Kramer has created a stylistic caricature of fairy tale violence that convincingly and wholly entertains its audience. What more could we want?
Genruk