Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The Runner starring Nicolas Cage. While The Runner is just another mundane campaign trailblazer, Nicolas Cage still has some gas left in the tank. When the film bad, it's hard to watch. But because Cage is almost able to save The Runner completely on his own – despite the help of Peter Fonda, Connie Nielsen, and Sarah Paulson, we're able to walk away with a glimmer of hope for future Nic Cage features. Unfortunately, that's about the only thing we can remain stoked about once Stark's character dissection comes to an end. The film stables for a while and is predictable for this case of a film. It is more seen as a slow paced political drama, underneath its release which was limited then went straight to video through some places. There are reasons for this. However, do not expect nothing more than a typical run of the mill drama.

I like Nic Cage. Not really as an actor, but I just enjoy seeing him in movies and in general they are pretty enjoyable. But this.This is just a cheap rip-off of House of Cards with a horrible, horrible story. The protagonist is a mix of Peter Russo and Frank Underwood, trying to convince us we have a charismatic, mighty person in front of us like Underwood, while attempting to give him the emotional level and the development of Russo. And this is just horrible. Cage just isn't capable of transmitting this level of emotion to the viewer (first scene where he cried we started to laugh - literally), as the writer isn't capable of delivering any kind of believable plot and character decisions. So I just say it like it is: Even though I like Cage, this movie is not good. I would neither recommend buying, nor watching it. You'll waste your time.

"I'm running for Senate to move things forward, not only for this great state of Louisiana, for this great country." Every time I tend to give Nicolas Cage yet another chance to prove to me why I admired him in the past. What a pleasure it was to see him at work in "Matchstick Men". How impressive he was with his unforgettable role in "Leaving Las Vegas". Admittedly, in the past there were also a few crappy films with him starring in it. Recent years he manages to participate in one failure after the other. Just look at "Ghost Rider", "Tokarev" and "Outcast". The only noticeable better movie between all these is "Joe" (although I still need to see it). The rest is just sad. That's why Cage looks more sad in each released movie. Just look at the cover of "The Runner". Those tired, tormented, sad eyes speak volumes."The Runner" isn't really such a movie that introduces the revival of Cage's film career. And yet I respect Cage for his courage to participate in a politically charged film like this. Because to be honest, politic isn't really an exciting topic to fill a feature film. Politic is boring, sometimes unworldly, incomprehensible and uninteresting to me. It's therefore not surprising that these are also the characteristics of this political drama. The title of the film is a bit misleading. It's not that Cage runs around to provide financial support for local fisheries. Nor that he swiftly runs from one lover to another. Or that it has a symbolic meaning when it comes to his flight out of alcoholism. It simply refers to the daily habit of Congressman Colin Price (Nicolas Cage), to put on a pair of running shoes every morning, so he can go jog a bit.It's all about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico where an explosion on an oil rig caused oil streaming into the sea for months. Southern states like Louisiana and Alabama were hit by this oil spill. Price is a congressman in Louisiana and he's concerned about the fate of the local fishermen and industries. In an emotional plea during an television interview, he draws attention to the economic consequences of this environmental disaster. At once he's the center of attention and his employees see this as an opportunity to let his political career grow. Unfortunately some surveillance recordings are revealed with compromising images of this congressman with an African American young lady in an elevator. Price is truly concerned about these fishermen because she's the wife of an African American fisherman. His political career hits rock bottom and before he knows it, he's looking again at the bottom of a whiskey bottle. Typical American. At least the man tries to do something for the hard-working working man and before you know it, the media comes up with some facts related to the man's private life.The only ray of light in this unnecessary film, filled with political drivel and unabashed corruption, is the magnificent acting by Peter Fonda. He plays Colin's father and he's also a former politician who has swum through difficult waters (oil-free in his case). He also has an enormous alcohol problem. The relationship between both hard-boiled politicians isn't so good. And you can say that's an understatement. There are some wonderful acting moments between father and son. But for the rest, this film is as dead as the fish in the oiled seawater. Apparently politicians are energetic. A trait this film really doesn't possess. Lets hope Cage looks a bit more cheerful in his next film !More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT

People love to bash Nic Cage films, and clearly a lot of people will bash this one simply because of that. I'm a Cage fan and I'll admit, he has put out a string of terrible films lately. But I feel comfortable saying that "The Runner" is his best performance in many years. The movie is a slow burn Southern political drama that takes place during the BP oil spill in 2010. It addresses the oil spill and politics in general in an intelligent way. It's far from a thriller, as they wrongly marketed it in the trailer, so you need to stay with it. It is a quiet film, sad at times too. It's certainly not for everyone. You also won't get any Crazy Cage highlights here for Youtube - he's restrained and nuanced. The rest of the cast is also really good, especially Sarah Paulson and Peter Fonda. If you're into politics, dramas, or have liked Nic Cage in the past, I highly recommend this film.