The Runner (2015) - Review

The Runner is a 2015 political drama starring Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen, Peter Fonda, Sarah Paulson, and Wendell Pierce. The movie focuses on a fictional Louisiana congressman, Colin Pryce, who is bogged in scandal as he navigates fighting for his constituents after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While fighting to get their fair compensation and assisting in cleanup efforts, his affair with the wife of a local fisherman comes to light. Deborah (Nielsen), his wife, starts to distance herself from Colin to salvage her career, as does his campaign manager and long time friend, Frank (Pierce). Only Kate (Paulson), a childhood friend and campaign consultant, sticks by Colin's side as he decides to put his head down and work for the people that he has grown up with and served for years. Colin continues to fight political pressures and attacks on his motives for doing pro bono legal work while spending seemingly lost time with his father (Fonda), another disgraced former politician.

The Runner succeeds in portraying the struggles that face a politician of what seems to be a national representative for a population that is expected to take the lumps of the malfeasance of mega corporations. Cage's depiction of a disgraced member of not only Congress, but of his local jurisdiction really felt strong as he navigates what is best for him, his family, and his political career moving forward. That is as far as I will go in terms of attributing strengths to the movie. The Runner seems burdened by having to follow Colin Pryce through his moments of self-reflection and rediscovery. It doesn't do a great job of highlighting exactly why I should care about this politician in particular - the citizens of his district are more compelling of following their stories than I really felt Pryce earned this distinction. Even toward the conclusion of the movie, I really didn't care about the politics of it all. Everyone is portrayed as people who are willing to compromise their values, which I can concede is true of politicians in real life, but the movie spends so much time building Colin up as the "underdog" fighting for his people only to squander that hope at the end, revealing that he has compromised everything he stands for, just as his father and wife predicted he would.

I agree with others who do not recommend this movie, concluding that it is disappointing in itis delivery and at this point is meant for people like me - who are willing to dredge through polluted waters to try to find meaning in something.