RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL (2019) **

Running with the Devil is Traffic Lite.  (Or is that Lite Traffic?)  It’s a multi-character dramatization of the world of drug trafficking that contains multiple plotlines that occasionally intersect.  We follow the growers in Columbia, the kingpins in America who import it over the border, the dealers and users on the street, and the federal agents who are trying to bust them. 

After an hour or so of back and forth between characters on both sides of the law, something of a plot begins to form when a street-level hood (Laurence Fishburne) and a high-end importer (Nicolas Cage) team up to deliver a shipment.  Predictably, they soon learn they can’t trust each other.  I like both actors very much, but unfortunately, this potentially potent pairing fizzles quickly as the duo unceremoniously and abruptly go their separate ways. 

All this is kind of by the numbers.  The fractured narrative isn’t especially involving, and the film only gets more muddled as it goes along.  (The final reel is particularly choppy.)  What’s more, you have to contend with a lot of annoying title cards that pop up on screen every time a new character is introduced with nicknames like “The Cook”, “The Man”, and “The Agent in Charge”.  This is a trend that seldom works in goofy DTV action flicks and it seems out of place in a well-intentioned (though severely lackluster) DTV drama.

The good cast keeps you watching.  Leslie Bibb does a fine job as the Fed fighting a futile war, Fishburne is a lot of fun as the wild-eyed dealer with big-time ambitions, and Clifton Collins, Jr. lends some depth to the flimsily written role of a drug farmer.  Most of us will pop this on because of Nicolas Cage, but sadly, he is way too subdued to make it all worthwhile.  His bland character is firmly rooted in Cage’s Everyman Schlub Mode.  Walking with a stoop, wearing glasses, and flatly delivering his lines, Cage kind of gets lost in the shuffle among the countless other bit players and guest stars. 

If you’re looking for Cage’s usual high energy theatrics, you will no doubt be disappointed.  However, you may enjoy Fishburne’s flamboyant performance.  He is by far the most memorable character in the bunch and is clearly having a blast with his sleazy character.  However, whenever Fishburne isn’t on screen, Running with the Devil is running on empty.