The Runner

source: The Runner

The Runner is not the typical mystery thriller or clumsy action movie Nicolas Cage has been known for these past few years. This is a much deeper take on political drama as well as private ups and downs of a man's life. The cumulative acting prowess succeeds in presenting an appealing drama, but its varying interweaving subplots might be too cumbersome to fully develop. Story revolves around the incident of oil spill, then proceeds towards its aftermath as Senator Pryce (Nicolas Cage) is plagued by series of scandals. It's a compelling subject as a backdrop against the private life of the Senator, as it displays the man in front of public eyes along with his more honest thoughts and apprehensions. Nicolas Cage has his finer performance in years, this is far more in-depth and intimate dive on a character than practically his half dozen previous roles of cheap action hero or investigator. It's the way he puts on the flaws that make the politician character more identifiable. The supporting characters perform excellently as well, providing different aspects of relationship that Pryce must compensate or struggle with. The actors, despite having different screen time, present interesting subplots. However, this also hampers the pace as not every tangled story angle wrap up nicely. It's almost like a politician who promises too many things, some of them might be delivered, the rest could just be awkwardly shoehorned in. It's commendable to showcase multiple aspect of the drama, even displaying the man's vices, yet the transition between these subplots is sometimes jarring. It may have several flaws, but The Runner is a decent absorbing drama and also a step up on Nicolas Cage's slumping resume.

The Runner starring Nicolas Cage. While The Runner is just another mundane campaign trailblazer, Nicolas Cage still has some gas left in the tank. When the film bad, it's hard to watch. But because Cage is almost able to save The Runner completely on his own – despite the help of Peter Fonda, Connie Nielsen, and Sarah Paulson, we're able to walk away with a glimmer of hope for future Nic Cage features. Unfortunately, that's about the only thing we can remain stoked about once Stark's character dissection comes to an end. The film stables for a while and is predictable for this case of a film. It is more seen as a slow paced political drama, underneath its release which was limited then went straight to video through some places. There are reasons for this. However, do not expect nothing more than a typical run of the mill drama.

An embarrassing video threatens the career of an idealistic Louisiana congressman who dreams of running for the Senate. After all, the video features him having a little bit of cheeky cheeky with a fishermans wife. But what makes this video the final twist of the knife, is the fact that the congressman is vying to his people to help fishermen and others who's careers are threatened by the 2010 BP oil spillage..... It's that age old problem isn't it? No matter how many people you try to help, no matter how much help you provide and how much you live up to your promises,someone's always got a bit of dirt on you, and your family. And it doesn't help that your dad had a similar problem when he was a congressmen.... The film is literally a mix of Erin Brockovich meets one of those dodgy erotic thrillers that your dad used to rent from the video shop and keep at the back of the TV, and not as good that concept sounds. Cage reins his performance in for the most part of the film, which is always a negative, because all us true Cage fans love us a bit of mental, shouty Cage, so we still have evidence for the non-believers that there is some redeeming factors his films. So the film isn't terrible, it's quite interesting from the point of the actual story, but the narrative was done to death in the nineties, a sex scandal ruins someone's career. Whoop-De-Doo. If this was made in the nineties in the wake of David Mellor or Paddy Ashdown, and used a different environmental disaster as a backdrop, it would have been something of a success, and would have most definitely starred Michael Douglas. So it's a strange change of course for Cage, it's not a film you'd expect him to be in, but you have to pay your huge bills Nic don't you? Halfway through the film, Peter Fonda turns up and steals everything everybody does from then whenever he's on screen, and I've been waiting for this reunion since Ghost Rider. So the film consists of Cage talking importantly on stage, Cage talking importantly on TV. Scandal!!! A slap from Nielsen, Fonda, slight redemption, and then scouting along in civvies talking to the fisherman. So all in all, it's not a terrible movie, as said before it has a message, and some interesting facts, but for true Cage fans, it's like watching paint dry.

THE RUNNER is an extremely boring and talky little Nicolas Cage, non-trashy unlike the rest of his recent work, but certainly without many reasons to tune in (unless, for some unfathomable reason, you're actually a fan of the star). He plays a do-gooding politician striving to build a career in the wake of the BP oil disaster, but who instead finds himself caught up in personal conflict and disaster. It's one of those films that you watch wondering why you should care, because the characters are thinly-drawn and lacklustre and the lack of incident makes this extremely dull. Supporting actors include a rare non-crazy role for Sarah Paulson alongside Connie Nielsen and old-timer Peter Fonda.

Fully engulfing itself to mimic real situations, a congressmen attempting to save the fishermen of Louisiana who just suffered a crisis from an oil spill attempts to use this to run for senate, but a scandal ruins his chances, but he still has a cause to finish while fighting his personal demons. It's a great political drama, but I feel it suffers by exploiting real life events trying to pull on our heart strings for sentimental value. If the fishermen where army troops, it would be an exploitation film rather than a political drama. It also suffers form a lot of down time where nothing is really happening and moving too slowly for nothing to be going on. The movie is a tangled weave about how good deeds by positive people can be over shadowed by a media scandal that exploit their negative vices. It's an interesting look on how politics work and the necessaries of certain evils and how that works. The Runner is a different point of view on a familiar story. It's a bit grim when you soak it all in, but once again the slow pace and the stretching out of a story that could have been told in less than 90mins made it dull and incoherent at times weakening all the good qualities. It's too bad, cause Cage could have used a good movie were he's putting to use the acting chops that won him an Oscar. Cage plays a man struggling with personal demons, some his own vices. Some vices pass down from his father, played by Peter Fonda who becomes the center of attention the moment he comes on screen. Overall, it's not a bad picture, but it could have been better.

With all the poor reviews from critics that I've seen on this film, plus its low rating on IMDb I was expecting very little here, so I was somewhat surprised that it turned out to be a reasonably decent watch. It does have many unlikable characters and it's not going to win feel-good movie of the year, but the acting is solid led by Cage and Sarah Paulson, and the story was engaging enough to keep my attention. Nicolas Cage can portray flawed characters as well as anyone, and he does so here as Colin Pryce, a Congressman from a Louisiana coastal district. He's from a family line of politicians, with his father (Peter Fonda) having been a revered Mayor of New Orleans years ago. After the disastrous 2010 BP oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico, Congressman Pryce's popularity soars after he gives impassioned testimony, on Capitol Hill, asking for help for the people in his constituency, and he's being seriously being considered as a Senate candidate for Louisiana. However, his extra-marital dalliance with a young woman is exposed in a closed circuit elevator video and, of course, ends up going viral on the net. Pryce decides to resign and ends up working as a pro bono attorney for citizen claimants against BP, and comes upon all the frustrations associated with bureaucracy and getting a large corporation to pay up. This will lead to Pryce's return to drinking after being sober for 16 years, as well as sparking divorce papers from his high powered and ambitious wife Deborah (Connie Nielsen). After some time has elapsed, Pryce will have to decide whether to "jump in bed" with the manipulative oil companies and re-enter the political world, or continue on the benevolent path he's been on. I might mention the very talented actress Sarah Paulson adds quite a lot to the movie, as a former consultant and friend of Pryce, and later a possible love interest. All in all, as some reviewers here have noted this film exceeded low expectations and became, in my opinion, a reasonably decent watch. I thought it was a good writing and directorial debut for Austin Stark, who's been a producer for a number of excellent films in the past.

Politicians are humans too. In case you were wondering or didn't know, this movie makes this clear. Though it does so, by using a lot of clichés. Still I take any decent role that Cage is putting out there and this certainly is one of them. While predictable and not as earnest as a recent politician who might be the front runner for the Democrats after President Obamas turn is over, the character portrayed by Nicolas Cage is charming, despite or maybe even because of his flaws and faults. Having said that, there is a bit of sugar coating going on here (though not in the department of nudity, in case you were wondering), and it might feel a bit out of touch for some. Still the flow of the movie is nice and it works (mostly) ...

I highly recommend this film to everyone remotely interested in every day politics. Get an idea of what politicians have to be like if they want be honest vs if they want to be successful. This is not a thriller or a comedy. So if you are looking for something with a lot of digital effects, this is not a good film for you, look for something else. But if you are in the mood for down to earth, honest film, I think you will enjoy this one. Very good acting and directing. Nicolas Cage is great and so is the rest of the cast. The story line is very realistic and does not really evolve around the horrendous BP spill. It is a drama pressures that politicians succumb to.

While this movie focuses on 2 aspects --personal drama and public career what i liked the most was the political aspect and the problems Colin (Nick Cage) has to face to help others . I think is true and we all know it . Even if you want to do something good you can't escape the money/media problem to get elected --be influenced. Is a low budget film but well made without fancy story lines and unreal House Of Cards like moments who makes all of us believe we can became presidents. It presents the small portion of a congressman life as it is. The BP subject is a sensitive one and that's my guess why the movie is so unknown and has such a low rating . People want to see only ultra edited SF's these days......