Runner Runner (2013)
Certified: 15
Duration: 91 minutes
Directed by: Brad Furman
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Gemma Arterton, Anthony Mackie, Ben Affleck, David Costabile, Sam Palladio, Oliver Cooper, Ben Schwartz, Laurence Mason, Dayo Okeniyi
KRS release
Richie (Justin Timberlake) is a Princeton graduate student and works in Wall Street, but he loses it all when the recession hits.
He ends up in debt and has to make ends meet by doing work for gambling websites. He also helps others, including some of his professors, to place bets online.
However, he risks expulsion from university when the dean finds out what he’s up to. So Richie goes online to play in a major league poker set of rounds.
At first he seems to be winning but then he loses everything yet again. However, it is not long before he discovers that he has been tricked. He finds out that the website is owned by the ultra-rich Ivan Block (Ben Affleck) who operates from Costa Rica.
When confronted, Ivan says it was all a technical error and that he has since eliminated the glitch and wants Richie to work for him.
Richie is entranced by Ivan and by his long-time assistant Rebecca (Gemma Arterton). As time goes by, he starts to peel away Ivan’s façade and finds bribery, extortion and other rackets going on. He is also hounded by agent Shavers (Anthony Mackie) of the FBI. Richie is also caught in between Ivan and Gaming Commissioner Herrera (Yul Vasquez) who wants more protection money.
Ivan, meanwhile, uses the fact that Richie’s father is a gambling addict against him and gains even more control over him. Richie is desperate and, with his back to the wall, he starts to see how and in what way he can fight back.
Runner Runner is a glossy, good-looking picture in the mode of The Firm (1993) and Wall Street (1987). In its own way the film is also a celebration of excess and hedonism and how the pursuit of this can lead to questionable choices.
At one point the film provides a turnaround as it becomes a depiction of an individual’s attempt to change tack, turn the screw and do something real with his life.
Overall, however, the film as directed by Brad Furman, who is fresh from his success from The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), is slick, polished and as cool as can be.
Runner Runner’s main success essentially lies in what makes a card game interesting: this sees the player trying to find a way to turn the tables on his opponent. This is what Timberlake tries to do and we see him turn the tables on Affleck and the rest.
It is here that Furman’s flashiness and slickness in his direction makes the film come into its own.
While Timberlake is as always showing considerable screen presence, it is Affleck who steals the show here. He knows that Ivan is like an over-the-top bull-in-a-china-shop kind of character. He overplays his script with relish and obviously has fun as a sadistic little fellow. Arterton is there to provide the film with visual eye candy and she does this effectively.
All in all, Runner Runner lives up to its name. It is a fast-paced, brisk film that will provide ample entertainment for those in search of a slick and cool movie.