Running with the Devil - La legge del cartello

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.

This is far better than you might expect from an under-the-radar Nicolas Cage film. The dialogue is very good and delivered honestly by a very competent cast. The story is believable (except for the bit about flying and skydiving, where they could have used a consultant). The editing made it concise and effective. There is a raw, unadorned feeling to the whole production. The arc finished the tale off in a very satisfying way without giving me time to check my watch. This is a successful film and one to be proud of. And, it shows that with good quality material, Cage is a very likable, convincing actor. I'm happy to see him in a film like this, for a change.

Tried, tired and tested failed narrative on "The War on Drugs" movie. The failure to see the thing you're setting out to "have a war on" as being the thing that makes it worse, while you're apparent goal is prevention...

The biggest problem being, your mentality that presented a problem that justified a war is one of delusion. That problem won't go away until you see and accept that delusion for what it truly is and so you'll keep on perpetuating that problem until you do, as it's one if your creation by demanding society needs to be edited as though society can't make their minds up themselves but needs a Big Brother to whip them into submission!

It's one which has it's epicentre, upon control. That control is to target society in a mechanism to supply and police, creating a perpetual game of cat and mouse, where as a problem you're fuling by your war, you can justify the advancement of control. Just like Terrorism...

When you're behind this system, such a chase is a very desirable one. So you inflict it and keep a society docile to this reality. To keep a society bamboozled by this game, is equally desirable. By this method, they will either conform or be policed! They're either agaisnt the Terrorism or a Terrorist Sympathiser. Everything becomes polarised by a reality we are trying to beat into submission as though those behind this system know better and can present their argument within the makeup of many movies as they do.

George Orwell would be proud of this inverted concept we can see depicted via this movie. This is done well, maybe this movie can help present this. It all depends on the perception of those watching the movie as it isn't forced this wa, it takes an analytical view on what the movie is actually presenting. It's this which may leave some inevitably numb as though some lack of direction or concept was lost on the movie, while it inevitably does point within a certain direction it desires you to believe without giving you any clarity or pushing really hard on what that direction is without analysis. It uses a light touch to push that same old narrative as though you'll collectively perceive that desired perception via the prior political conditioning of society and so it needs no heavy introduction.

While leaving the idea that the good guys won? Or is it actually the Devil himself? Whom keeps up the supply to justify the policing?

It's within this lose candid method the movie is put together some may find lacking of narrative. As the movie is edited together in a way to present a string of events without much deep underlying context within some respect, where the point of the movie, beginning to end maybe lost upon them due to the movie not delivering because it demands them to think for themselves, while also being a morality tale that those whom watch the movie may not necessarily agree with. They may not see the Duality of the characters. There's not much development of many characters, this is very weak and so you can't really feel them from their point of view.

This being why you could feel more negatively towards this movie. You can't feel an individual side you're compelled to support and so the outcome may leave some feeling uncomfortable or nonplussed, but it also can leave one believing the War on Drugs is a good one, we just need to do more if they accept the movie at face value and where it inevitably takes us. It's the pushing of this failed narrative as though it's one which is justified, which makes the movie for me disappointing.

It really doesn't test the acting of all those involved whom have almost certainly been in better movies than this. It's almost as if many of the actors took part within this film under a contractual obligation to be within another movie they would much rather be apart of, while going along with this movie to continue the push upon this same old political narrative, that we may as well be hearing the echo chamber of "build that wall" as the movie ended, while we didn't actually hear them. It's this theme throughout the movie that we can feel a desire to be swayed in our thinking without actually hearing that message, its desired that we contrive to think and feel a certain way that I suspect many people just don't want to buy into nor accept anymore.

It would be far less compelling to create a movie about the mass of "Cocaine In America" as delivered by the "CIA" and not the cut outs within the drugs trade as it may otherwise appear, much as cut outs within the Terrorist trade. That would give the game away. It would mean they couldn't get away with doing what undoubtedly is done by the use of both the War on Drugs or Terrorism and this movie had a chance to deliver this to an audience but failed to deliver by the way it was presented, leaving blanks for speculation where some may not speculate at all but just think and feel the movie stinks...

So we have this respinning to push - ironically as this ideology is more dangerous than any drug - the same old narrative of the failed War on Drugs used to target, threaten and police society as much as a War on Terrorism. The Intelligence Apparatus would love to combine the two I'm sure. It fell short of successful delivering the what it otherwise actually may have originally set out to deliver. It's as though it may have been designed to deliver this message, but some influential people forced the hand of some one to edit out parts of the movie they don't want in it. While readjusting the movie back around an acceptable political narrative other than the original message that may have otherwise been desired by the creation of this movie...

It leaves a stale taste and that maybe designed to be directed towards fuling the continuation of this War on Drugs or it maybe this way for me because I believe the Devil has pulled the wool over the eyes of many and remained Triumphant at the end of the movie...

It's worth a watch for sure but it won't be something I'd rush to watch again unless it receives an extended edition, with parts that had previously been cut out from this movie reintroduced that hasn't been edited via the censorship office - Ministry of Truth - as acceptable via dictionaries dictated via the principles of Newspeak.

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.

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!