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# ‘Running’on empty, but still a wild ride
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/runningon-empty-but-still-a-wild-ride/
- Published: 2006-02-24T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:18:14.000Z
- Author: Dan Dunn
- Tags: Crime, Santa Monica, #archive-import

A lot of folks will no doubt be repulsed by the vociferous feculence-fest that is Wayne Kramer’s directorial follow-up to “The Cooler,” but there’s certainly a sizable audience out there for this sort of murky material. Most are young males who’ve mastered all versions of the “Grand Theft Auto” video game series. But there are other factions who’ll be lining up to see “Running Scared” — digerati, fan boys, perverts, escaped convicts and Quentin Tarantino devotees willing to take whatever they can get while the master is off on one of his sabbaticals. Indeed, with its myriad nods to QT’s oeuvre, a more appropriate title for “Running Scared” would be “Grand Theft Pulp.” Not to say the film is without its charms, you’ve just got to be willing to indulge your, shall we say, more deviant tendencies.

Leaden leading man Paul Walker opens his second film in as many weeks, but don’t expect to find him frol-icking with any cute pooches this time around. Cuddly has no place in a funereal world seemingly populated exclusively by pimps, hos, addicts, killers, pedophiles and crooked cops. There also are sadistic mob guys who shoot hockey pucks at Walker’s pretty mug, which has been covered with a week’s worth of five o’clock shadow to make him look mean. Ice hockey, pedophiles and Chazz Palmintieri — whose thespian range spans “tough guy” to “wiseguy” — all in the same movie? Sheesh! Has Wayne Kramer no shame? OK, truth be told, the movie is pretty darn exciting. At the very least, you’ll be challenged trying to keep up with the whirling dervish of a plot that involves a missing gun, some dead cops, a Russian meth dealer/John Wayne fanatic, tykes in trouble, and a handsome hero played by a star that can’t act very well. (RATED R. RUNNING TI.ME: 122 MINUTES)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 24, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/022406.pdf?ref=smdp.com)