Runner Runner (2013)

My Rating: 3.2 out of 10

Runner Runner is a 2013 American crime thriller film directed by Brad Furman. The film stars Justin Timberlake as Richie Furst, Ben Affleck as Ivan Block, Gemma Arterton as Rebecca Shafran and Anthony Mackie as Agent Shavers. It follows Richie, who tries to make his tuition fees online playing poker, but after losing all the money, goes to Costa Rica to confront the online king of poker, Ivan, whom he believes has swindled him. Eventually, he becomes a part of his operation, but uncovers criminal and devious plots in his business.

Runner Runner has an impressive cast but the tedious direction and bland acting ruins the whole movie. The story in the beginning is intriguing, but eventually emanates as a haphazard thriller with poorly congregated pieces. In the first twenty minutes only, you might feel like scramming from the movie and doing something useful with your time. Timberlake is just moving around in the scenes portraying minimal expressions possible and giving nothing new other than his smart-ass attitude gained from Sean Parker’s character in ‘The Social Network’. Gemma Arterton doesn’t have a substantial role and you’d expect a lot from Anthony Mackie after seeing him in ‘The Hurt Locker’.

The only reason why I started watching this movie was Ben Affleck, but it turns out that it was just a bad decision made by him. His character is weak, he portrayed it dimly and definitely does not hold up his reputation garnered from State of Play, The Town and Argo like intense and brawny performances. Although, very few moments can be noted where he does try to grip his character. The direction from Furman of ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ fame is gloomy and becomes slackened.

The movie is said to be inspired by the life of Nat Arem, a professional poker player and a former accountant who helped uncover cheating in online poker using statistical methods by analysing thousands of games. Concluding, I’d say that those were ninety-one minutes of my life that I would not get back. If you don’t have anything to do and want to desperately pass your time then go for this movie otherwise find something better to do.

Now, to watch the movie, you can get the print at Runner Runner.

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