Runner Runner

RUNNER RUNNER

Director : Brad Furman

Year : 2013

Genre : Thriller

Rating : **

Telling a very conventional rags to riches plot, 'Runner Runner' is a bland and completely forgettable thriller from director Brad Furman. Starring Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake and Gemma Arterton, the film tells the story of a young Princeton student who after losing all of his college fund on a gambling website, confronts the boss and ends up working for the sly entrepeneur in Costa Rica. While the scenery is nice to look at and the camera work is efficient, 'Runner Runner' is dragged down by it's rather lifeless performances and a shoddy and predictable screenplay. Failing to emote any sense of threat or danger whatsoever, 'Runner Runner' quickly becomes a tiresome and dreary watch that is only saved by a good soundtrack and the beautiful Costa Rican setting. Filling the gap between the Summer blockbuster season and the Oscar contenders season, 'Runner Runner' sits nicely in the current multiplex calender and is sure to make a lot of money due to it's relatively low violence level and recognisable stars in lead roles. Besides that, the movie is just... there, not really doing much.

Justin Timberlake plays Richie, a popular and brilliant Princeton student who believes that he has been cheated on a worldwide poker site. Good with figures and statistics, he travels to Costa Rica to confront the head of the company, the conniving and vindictive Ivan Block played by Ben Affleck. After talking to the multibillionaire on his huge boat, Block convinces the mathematical genius to join his team with the promise of millions and millions of dollars. For the first few months, Ritchie is perfectly happy and enjoys the high life, but as Block becomes more and more secretive, the young and impressionable student falls into a trap; a trap that may cost him his life.

Director Brad Lurman is best known for his 2011 thriller 'The Lincoln Lawyer', a very gripping film that would begin the Matthew McConaughey renaissance. Unfortunately, 'Runner Runner' displays none of the visual flair or directorial talent that made 'The Lincoln Lawyer' such an interesting watch and instead replaces these elements with very generic set pieces and conventional narrative twists. Due to the very predictable screenplay and the various character developments that are common in any rags to riches thriller, 'Runner Runner' does become irritating at many points and sadly, the film doesn't really do much do take back our attention. It tries to throw in moments of peril and danger to get our hearts racing, but even these moments feel conventional and only add to the boredom created by the script and the acting.

Ben Affleck is clearly having fun with his antagonistic role and does a fairly good job of creating a palpable air of danger and secrecy, but he does ham it up quite a lot and sometimes makes the role of Ivan Block incredibly fake. However after the absolute perfection of 'Argo', he deserves a break. Justin Timberlake is rather insipid as the central protagonist and doesn't really do much to try and create any sense of dimension or likability towards his character. It's not a bad performance per se, it's just perfectly adequate. In fact, that's the best way of summing up 'Runner Runner', adequate. The direction is adequate, the acting is adequate, the script is adequate. Adequacy is not a terrible thing in the movie world and I would rather much see an adequate film that a down and out cinematic monstrosity. 

With it's easily predictable narrative, ineffectual characters and bogged down screenplay, 'Runner Runner' is not anything special in any way shape or form. There is so much better stuff to see in the cinemas right now and I would rather spend my money seeing something truly great like 'Prisoners' or 'Filth' than a film that I can plot within half and hour of it's opening. But if you like a conventional thriller that does exactly what it says on the tin, then you could do a lot worse than 'Runner Runner'. Then again, you could also do a lot better too.