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'Running Scared' is simply running on empty

Violence does not get much more gratuitous than in the artfully photographed, blood-spattered gore in Running Scared, a sick tale of gang warfare with children caught in the cross hairs. Presumably patterned after Robert Rodriguez's Sin City, but substantially more graphic, there is surely an audience for this empty brutality, but you would not want to know anyone to whom this picture appeals.

New Line Cinema 'Running Scared' D The verdict: Bloody gang warfare drama whose sole point seems to be the opportunity for violence. Director: Wayne Kramer Starring: Paul Walker, Cameron Bright, Vera Farmiga, Karel Roden, Johnny Messner Run time: 122 minutes Release date: Feb. 24, 2006 Rating: R for pervasive strong brutal violence and language, sexuality and drug content. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime [an error occurred while processing this directive]

Most people do not select the movies they go to by the director, but those who do will be appalled by what Wayne Kramer — who previously gave us the puckish, Las Vegas-based The Cooler — has wrought. Make that overwrought. It is the story of a drug deal gone bad, in which some crooked cops intervene and get mowed down, as an incriminating pistol goes missing.

The heat is on suburban mobster Joey Gazelle (Paul Walker of The Fast and the Furious), who stashed the gun in his basement. But the precocious Russian son of his next-door neighbor has taken it, mainly to shoot his dad.

So the movie follows the gun, which passes through some truly sleazy characters before the improbable wrap-up. Along the way, Joey's wife (Vera Farmiga of Down to the Bone) uncovers a child porn operation and takes steps to eradicate it. Eventually, the big showdown set piece occurs in an ice hockey rink, apparently so an enforcer can aim slap shots at Joey's face.

As is increasingly the case, the title Running Scared has almost nothing to do with the movie, but was probably chosen by the studio's marketing department. And no, it has absolutely nothing to do with the 1986 Billy Crystal-Gregory Hines comedy of the same name.