Running with the Devil (2019)

Running with the Devil is the kind of lean, street-level crime thriller that hooks you with its procedural tension and then keeps tightening the screws, letting the underworld feel lived-in rather than glamorized. Nicolas Cage and Laurence Fishburne give it real weight—two pros who can sell menace, fatigue, and calculation with a look—so even the quieter stretches hum with purpose. The vibe is gritty and methodical, more cat-and-mouse than fireworks, and it’s satisfying to watch the pieces move as the mystery of a botched shipment ripples outward. If you want a flashy, twist-every-five-minutes ride this may feel restrained, but for fans of solid performances and a cohesive crime story, it’s an easy watch to recommend.

Running with the Devil wants to be a gritty, globe-hopping cartel procedural, following the chain of a botched shipment with a cool, methodical seriousness. The problem is it’s oddly inert: scenes stack up without much momentum, the plot feels tangled rather than tense, and the whole thing plays like a generic crime-thriller outline stretched past its limits. Even with a strong cast on paper, the performances rarely get the material they need to pop, so if you’re coming for peak Nicolas Cage energy, you may leave empty-handed. If you like slow, low-key investigations and don’t mind a messy narrative, it’s watchable in spots, but anyone craving sharp thrills or a coherent payoff should probably skip it.