Running with the Devil

Caught this whilst browsing through Netflix.

I can never resist a Nic Cage flick.

Watchable, but pretty dire. The only interesting thing about it, is seeing how cocaine gets to the west from source and to be honest, that was a total mish-mash of clips and scenes and you don't really learn much from it.

The ending will leave you totally underwhelmed.

Love Nic Cage though!

This is one of those movies I passed by many times on Netflix because I had feeling it would suck, well it did and should have stuck with my gut. The story is convoluted and at the beginning you will try to figure out all the players and the plot. There's no feeling with anything that takes place, just a brunch of random events connected, but not enough to make you care for anyone. The Fishburne intimate scenes were so off putting and not even pleasing to the eye. Feel like I'm blind now like how Al Bundy use to feel when he'd get any glimpse of Marcy next door.

This movie may not win any awards, but it is a solidly put together.

The story is interesting and different from the usual kind of 'narco' or 'cartel' type movie.

The acting by all of the cast is superb, with strong believable characters, and the production is good.

This isn't a kind of action everyone goes nuts kind of film - which is a good thing for this story.

Worth watching.

I enjoyed this, but it's not amazing. One of those films that fills the time. Good enough story. Well acted and produced but it's not amazing. It's kind of by the numbers as even I could predict a lot of it and I'm not great at that - I never know who the murderer is on Death in Paradise. However, this film has Cage and Fishburne and is all the better for them. They keep things ticking along nicely. Drug running across Americas with expected murders and police alongside the bosses and general corruption. I liked that they updated the price of the drugs as they moved through the supply chain. Good with a beer or on a quiet afternoon. You'll need some snacks too.

Just kidding.

Newbie (only his second film) writer and director Jason Cabell is a former Navy Seal and inspired the story from true events. He did a decent job behind the camera and in directing his cast, but his writing certainly needed some tweaking. Some scenes were too long and others needed more information (e.g the dinner plate and it's people), so there were obvious plot and technical issues with his screenplay.

"Running with the Devil" is fascinating when dealing only with procedure, with Cabell capturing the machine of trafficking and its problematic participants, with a few unable to refuse an opportunity to sample the goods, either to satisfy themselves or impress others. Cabell doesn't craft a nail-biter, but there's underworld awareness here that gives the feature something different to do.

Double-crosses and hasty decisions return in the final act of "Running with the Devil," which becomes more formulaic as Cabell tries to figure out a way to tie up multiple subplots, with special concentration on The Man, who can't dig his way out of trouble, and The Agent in Charge, who understands the futility of enforcement, but can't quite give up the hunt. Cabell delivers some tepid turns of plot, though he does have a cast capable of making thin screenwriting come alive (Fishburne is having his fun here, and Bibb does well in dogged pursuit mode, and Cage is very fitting and convincing in his character), helping the viewing experience to a certain degree. No one will mistake "Running with the Devil" for a documentary of the "do's and don'ts" of running your own cocaine business, or on the global crisis, but Cabell doesn't completely commit to dramatic exaggeration, keeping observation alive for good stretch of the movie.

The pacing was quite good with a constant story non-stop, that the 100 min run-time breezed by quickly. The cinematography was on point, and the score decent.

It's a well deserved 8/10 from me.