RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL
Directed by: Jason Cabell
Starring: Nicholas Cage, Laurence Fishburne, Cole Hauser, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Leslie Bib
When word reaches him that his cocaine is being over-cut, THE BOSS sends two of his highest regarded executives to check the whole supply chain, from the farmers in Columbia through to the high-end clubs where it is sold. Meanwhile a FBI task-force is launched when a number of people turn up dead having been poisoned by the cocaine they took…
You never really know what you're going to get from a movie starring Nicholas Cage in a movie. One minute you could be plodding through something like 211 and the next be on the edge of your seat watching his performance in MOM AND DAD, or MANDY. Running With The Devil is a very entertaining film, in which Cage takes a back seat, and lets Laurence Fishburne provide the crazy.
When The Boss learns his cocaine shipment has been watered down, he orders The Chef (Cage) to check each stage of the supply chain. This rankles The Chef because he's risen in the organization to the point where he doesn't get his hands dirty anymore - instead using his restaurants to launder the organization's money. However he knows better than to argue with his boss.
What follows is a fascinating, educational travelogue showing how the cocaine is prepared from the crops, and couriered through different countries, each step closer to its destination raising the value per kilo. Each step of the way, The Chef steps in to check the chemical makeup of the drugs, and just as well because he and The Executioner (Hauser) ensure that their supply isn't hijacked.
On the surface, The Chef is probably one of the most boring character that Cage has played, bringing no theatrics or tics to the role at all. But that is what makes him so compelling. Here is a guy who has traversed this supply chain so often. His underlings fear his presence. He's quick witted and smart and has absolutely no illusions or qualms about what he does. He doesn't flinch when one character has been strung up and tortured, and another has his throat cut in the middle of a meal. He knows too well the nasty side of running a drug cartel, and as such he is completely compelling to watch.
However, Cage's passivity makes room for Laurence Fishburne to spread his wings and go full Bad Lieutenant. As The Man, Fishburne is just a completely crazy mess. Totally strung out on cocaine, spending all his time with prostitutes (the peepshow scene….), The Man is a desperate addict who has totally given in to excess. There is a whole montage where we see him doing a tonne of coke and hookers which has to be seen to be believed.
This is a great little film which plays like a DTV version of the likes of the Sicario movies. It provides an earnest look at the drug trade in the USA and how drugs enter the country. The cast is very good - alongside Cage and Fishburne there is the ever reliable Cole Hauser, who hardly speaks a word in this but has great presence, and Barry Pepper, who we really should be seeing a lot more of.
There are niggles, of course. The film starts with in-media res, showing the fate to come of one of the characters (ooh, I wonder who's under that hood??) and then there is the unimaginative names given to the characters. Its neither clever nor hip, and underlines the point that we are watching fiction.
THE VERDICT
Running with the Devil is compellingly entertaining. Nicholas Cage downplays his character to a subtly banal level of evil, while Fishburne turns his coked-up performance all the way to 11.