'Run & Gun' is an action thriller that follows Ray as he tries to distance himself from his former life of crime and violence, moving to the suburbs and enjoying a quiet family life. However, Ray's past comes back to haunt him and he is blackmailed into doing one last job.
The film opens with Ray on his way to be hanged, with another criminal Lupe by his side. Ray manages to kill his captor and escape and in the process also free Lupe. Two years later Ray is shown working as an insurance claims agent and enjoying a quiet life with Faith and her son. Soon Lupe calls Ray from prison informing him that he has been recognized, prompting him to assume that Ray has been as well. The two are weary of their former employer, the Shoemaker, prompting Ray to want to flee. Before he can, he is met by Perry who tells him to meet with his boss Grayson.
When meeting Grayson, Ray realises it is not the Shoemaker that is after him, but Grayson blackmails Ray into a job for him with threat of revealing Ray's location to her. Ray accepts the job reluctantly as he fears endangering Faith and her son. On the way to an exchange, Ray is to trade $440,000 for a package with Ninni. After the swap, Ray is ambushed by Ninni and his brother, and in an exchange of blows, gets shot and kills Ninni's brother. On the run, Ray hides the money and the package in an abandoned car and proceeds to a seemingly abandoned factory. There he meets Billings who tends to his shot wound. It is then revealed that Billings is more sinister than anticipated, and has figured out that Ray has stashed money somewhere.
The cat and mouse game leads Ray to discover Tara chained up below the factory, who is due to be handed off. Soon after Maggie arrives, and together with Billings the two escort Tara to the van to take her away. In the meantime, Ray has sabotaged the van by stashing a bee hive in the back, allowing Tara to escape capture. Thereafter Maggie and Billings try to run Ray down, with Maggie getting trapped and Billings shooting her. Soon after, Billings and Ray have a stand-off, resulting in Ray using a stick of dynamite to blow up Billings.
Ray then finds Tara and the two try to escape, but are thwarted by the injured Billings. Soon after Grayson arrives with Brando and Perry, who are looking for the money, the package and Ray. Thinking Ray had double-crossed him, Grayson tortures Ray, who insists that it was Brando who lied to Grayson. Turning the table on Grayson, Ray escapes, finds Tara and the two drive off as Ray calls with Faith to tell her of his past. The film closes on Ray uncovering bank account information in the VHS tapes that had been in the package Grayson intercepted.
'Run & Gun' is a fun action thriller, that does well by opening on a tense situation that Ray finds himself in, - about to be hanged and seemingly without anyone to save him. As Ray makes his escape, we are shown the full capacity of his abilities and his outlook on wanting to start over. However, during the course of the film, as the character is thrown from one dangerous situation to another, Ray doesn't seem to live up to his reputation, falling short of successfully thwarting his enemies effectively. The way in which Grayson speaks about Ray implies an almost John Wick-like individual, yet the film does not deliver on that promise.
Besides the lukewarm response that the main character generates, the narrative of the film seems to jump from one set piece to another, as Ray is pushed along by crossing paths with increasingly more dangerous characters. The ever-shifting landscape and increasing number of new characters makes it difficult to create any meaningful relationships with any of the individuals, as little time is spent developing their motivations or goals. Essentially the same could be said for Ray, as he is dragged along and from one risky situation to another, with not enough time spent developing his wants and needs beyond wanting to get out of the criminal world. The film would have benefited from an extended runtime, or a greater focus on developing its characters. One of the shortfalls in the film can be felt when Ray picks up Tara and tells Faith that he has found someone who needs a home, yet we know so little about Tara and have seen her interact with Ray only two or three times, resulting in an emotionally unrewarding and unsatisfactory conclusion for the characters.
Ben Milliken portrays Ray, the seemingly reluctant protagonist who tries his darnedest to leave the criminal world behind. Even though Ray is apparently preceded by his reputation as a badass, the film, and subsequently Milliken, does not go out if its way to showcase the full extent of his abilities, leaving the audience wanting more on that end. The rest of the cast comprises of Angela Sarafyan as Maggi, Mark Dacascos as Brando, Brad William Henke as Billings, Janel Parrish as Faith, Alison Thornton as Tara, Rafael Cebrián as Lupe, Celestino Cornielle as Ninni and Ari Barkan as Perry, but the stand-out performance is delivered by Richard Kind as Grayson. Through Grayson Kind brings forth a menacing and knowledgeable criminal who is caught up in a tumultuous journey of paranoia and conspiracy theories. Through Kinds convincing performance, Grayson adds a layer of ridiculousness to the movie that it only benefits from.
Besides the films narrative and character issues, 'Run & Gun' does work well as an action thriller, if only for the tense and stirring sequences where Ray has to make his way out of a sticky situation. Interspersed with hilarious one-liners, the film also manages to retain the viewers interest by presenting the characters as not too serious and showing that they are self-aware, even if we don't get to explore their core being. On the whole, 'Run & Gun' is a packed action flick that doesn't seem too sure about what thread it wants to focus on, yet manages to provide for an exciting 90 minutes. The film has no lasting impact, as it keeps its characters at arms length, but the film works well for providing a few instances of genuine hilarity and suspense.
Score: 2/4
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