Starring: Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Gemma Arterton
Richie Furst (Timberlake) is a gifted student on the verge of being kicked out of Princeton because of his gambling-related activities, getting sign-ups for a gambling website. When Richie gambles and loses all of his tuition money on the site, he discovers that a code unfairly made his game almost impossible to win. Richie departs for Costa Rica to confront Ivan Block (Affleck) who runs the site and who quickly takes on Richie as a protégée. However, Richie is unprepared for the violence and crime that this work entails.
A gambling-related thriller, Runner Runner scores the jackpot and busts in pretty much equal measure. It's hard not to look at this film and see how much Brad Furman uses the films of Martin Scorsese as an influence, in both the plot and the first-person narrative and with the obvious comparison being with Casino (1995) but the film also uses elements from more fast-paced action films, giving an intriguing flavour, but also tripping the film up at times, such as a chase sequence with what I can only describe as an extreme form of shaky-cam, making it seem like you're watching the film whilst fastened to a giant paint-mixer. The character of Richie is also fairly flawed, not through Justin Timberlake's performance (which is solid but unremarkable) but rather through the fact that he's portrayed as being very smart and yet from the off, continues to make dumb decisions.
As the antagonist, Ben Affleck gives a laid-back performance, schmoozing and charming his way through violent criminality and corruption. This serves him well for the most part and he makes for an entertaining presence, but he doesn't quite give enough weight to his more intense moments. Anthony Mackie and Gemma Arterton fill out the main cast but in roles that remain a little murky and not fully fleshed-out. Surprisingly for a film that has Scorsese-esque pretensions, Runner Runner is also a fairly brisk and short film which helps stops the film from over-indulging itself. All in all, Runner Runner is no masterpiece but its worth a recommendation for those who like sleek and stylish thrillers.
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