(Left to Right) Alex Neuberger as “Nicky Gazelle” with his mob member father “Joey Gazelle” (Paul Walker) in New Line Cinema’s fast-paced crime drama, RUNNING SCARED. ©2006 Larry Horricks/New Line Productions

Wayne Kramer’s Running Scared reminds me a lot of Frank Miller’s Sin City and Sam Mendes’ Road to Perdition. If the two were to mesh into one film set in modern day New Jersey, you would create this film without flaw.

Road To Perdition followed the story of Tom Hanks as Michael Sullivan, in which his son experiences exactly what he does for a living, acting as a hitman for the mob. Sin City follows three storylines, all of characters who are in some way involved with the wrong people.

I find mob films absolutely fascinating. When I say this, I am not implying that I am one of those people who idolize The Godfather or have a Scarface poster in my room. I find my interested in mob films simply because the mob is one of the oldest and elaborate criminal systems, and besides the changing of technology and that the ways of the mob have stayed faithful since the beginning.

In Grimley, New Jersey, low level mob employee Joey Gazelle (Paul Walker) has been instructed by the mob to dispose of a weapon used to kill a dirty cop during a failed drug exchange.

Joey places the gun in his basement in a secret compartment located in the wall filled with many other bags, we can only assume this isn’t exactly his first time hiding something. After going back upstairs and after some lovemaking with his wife, Teresa (Vera Farmiga), not even caring whether his young son, Nicky (Alex Neuberger), is in the house. He later greets his son and his son’s best friend, Oleg (Cameron Bright).

Joey never really approved of Nicky hanging out with Oleg, especially since he believes his father, Ivan (John Noble, The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King) a Russian man who gets his morals from old John Wayne movies, is dangerous (we later learn he actually is).

While playing hockey in the Gazelle house basement, after Joey hid it, we find out that Oleg and Nicky were watching him from behind some boxes. While sitting at the dinner table, a gunshot is heard from Oleg’s house, then a bullet tears through the dining room window glass.

Joey runs to Oleg’s house convinced Ivan finally went too far. Surprisingly, heard from an injured Ivan, after beating up Oleg after a fight involving a criticism to John Wayne, Oleg shot him.

Nicky and Joey then spend their night looking for Oleg, but more importantly to Joey, the gun. Over the next eighteen hours, Joey, Nicky, and Oleg will face the true life horrors of a crime filled world of the downtown.

Though co-starring in this film, John Noble has easily the most interesting character. In a dark mooded scene, right before Oleg turned on his father, Ivan and Oleg fought about John Wayne, and makes a very interesting speech about western film. Growing up as a boy in Russia, Ivan tells how he always used to watch cowboy movies and there was very little violence. He tells him ever since he came to America those movies were different and he disliked the uncensored versions for their violence.

Ivan encourages Oleg to rewind the tape of a John Wayne film back to the monologue he makes before he gets shot in the shoulders. Oleg, fast forwards to a gun fight.

“What are you doing?” Asked Ivan angrily.

“This part’s better,” replies Oleg.

At that moment, Noble’s character becomes demonic and forceful and turns onto Oleg. And that is when the gun is pulled. This part of the film sort of highlights both on how film is doctored for content in different countries and that the kind of things we grow up with may become our morals.

This is easily Paul Walker’s best performance, and yet, it’s still not special. Why? Because, his previous work have been The Fast and Furious and Meet The Deedles in which are films which no one could possibly gain any experience, atleast with this film we see improvement.

The story flows in an interesting way, and it’s often hard to tell where the film is going, normally I might criticize this because it may have been a problem with the writer just not being able to keep himself or the story organized, but this film really likes to keep us guessing. Sammy Lee, also the producer of Oscar winning film, Monster has an impressive handle on darkness.

The violence as well as some other things, is very graphic. The depiction of it, as well as most of the film is a lot like Sin City, except in color. The camera goes for an extreme closeup and generally highlights the expression of the mouth and side of the face. Many scenes are quite impressive, though somewhat not convincing, like as Joey is investigating Oleg’s house and he see’s a broken window, he recreates the event of the bullet going through and entering his own dining room.

Thinking it through and talking to a few people about the film, I have learned that A. A rifle used in the opening sequence would not be able to blast a guy five feet back into a wall and B. there is a large, though not noticeable but at the same time painfully obvious plothole. I was a little thrown off myself when it was revealed to me.

The fact of the matter is, Running Scared is a crime drama/horror and I think the fact is that it’s the evil we experience in this film that keeps us watching. It’s that the film takes us to the horrors of the streets, the street corners, your own household, other’s households, and the even the hockey rink.

Rated R for pervasive strong, brutal violence and language (plenty of the F bomb), sexuality and drug content. Running time 122 minutes.

MAXimum Warning: This film is definitely not for children, I strongly advise you do not take them!