{"id":36770,"date":"2025-08-11T19:51:31","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T23:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/?p=36770"},"modified":"2025-08-11T22:30:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T02:30:49","slug":"the-final-run-2025-opening-in-select-theaters-and-on-demand-august-15-by-greggwmorris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/the-final-run-2025-opening-in-select-theaters-and-on-demand-august-15-by-greggwmorris\/","title":{"rendered":"THE FINAL RUN  \u2013 Opening in Select Theaters and On Demand August 15"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0-bT3Eeto0g?si=GIutDs8dFjQkC6hS\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Buzz:<\/strong> A gripping story of sacrifice, redemption, and the lengths one man will go to protect the ones he loves. Every smuggler has one last job. <strong>Starring<\/strong> Jeff Fahey (&#8220;Horizon: An American Saga &#8211; Chapter 1&#8221;, &#8220;Fire Country&#8221;, &#8220;Lost&#8221;), <strong>Golden Globe\u00ae Nominee Judd Nelson<\/strong> (The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo\u2019s Fire), <strong>Drew Waters<\/strong> ( &#8220;Friday Night Lights&#8221;, &#8220;Hysteria!&#8221;) and i<strong>ntroducing Maddie Henderson<\/strong> (TikTok culture influencer sensation with 4M+ followers).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-36884\" src=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-FinalRun_Still01_1920x1080-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-FinalRun_Still01_1920x1080-300x169.jpg 300w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-FinalRun_Still01_1920x1080-560x315.jpg 560w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-FinalRun_Still01_1920x1080-260x146.jpg 260w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-FinalRun_Still01_1920x1080-160x90.jpg 160w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-FinalRun_Still01_1920x1080-768x432.jpg 768w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-FinalRun_Still01_1920x1080.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_36826\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36826\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-36826\" src=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-fahey-TheFinalRun_Still02_1920x1080-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-36826\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeff Fahey<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_36825\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36825\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-36825\" src=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-otherdude-TheFinalRun_Still03_1920x1080-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-36825\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Judd Nelson<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>88 Minutes | Action |Thriller | Drama | Independent | NR TV-14<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Directed by<\/strong> Chris Helton. Written by Walter Czura, Jason Usry<br \/>\n<strong>Produced by<\/strong> Drew Waters, Chris Helton, Brent Cooper<\/p>\n<p><strong>SYNOPSIS:<\/strong> Pierce Butler, played by Jeff Fahey, is a retired Marine and former marijuana smuggler who is devastated when his wife is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. With mounting medical bills threatening their home and livelihood, Pierce, who served nine years in prison for smuggling drugs, decides it&#8217;s his best solution if he wants to raise a lot of moolah expeditiously and fast to pay medical bills and stuff. Adding to his concerns, he suffers a near fatal heart attack.<\/p>\n<p><em>About Level 33 Entertainment: Los Angeles based Level 33 Entertainment is a global content sales and distribution company dedicated to promoting diverse voices in independent film. Level 33 provides innovative sales, marketing and distribution services for feature films and entertainment content, delivering a flexible and transparent distribution solution for all platforms<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Will THE FINAL RUN have audiences on the edge of their seats? Will there be a sequel? Will there be a TV series. Will Netflick sweep it up &#8230; and so one &#8230; and so forth.<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"2\" width=\"70%\" \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Reviewer\u2019s Take on THE FINAL RUN<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-36878\" src=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-FinalRun_920x1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" srcset=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-FinalRun_920x1080.jpg 1000w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-FinalRun_920x1080-560x315.jpg 560w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-FinalRun_920x1080-260x146.jpg 260w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-FinalRun_920x1080-160x90.jpg 160w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-FinalRun_920x1080-300x169.jpg 300w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pub-FinalRun_920x1080-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>THE FINAL RUN is\u00a0 a slow-burn melodramatic, character-driven, action-adventure film featuring not-quite-over-the-hill popular movie stars and filmmakers. It has more fizzle than sizzle though this reviewer admits he came across reviewers regarding THE FINAL RUN as a 3-star or 3.5-star flick. I would only give it 2 stars.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m a Jeff Fayhey buff even if he hasn\u2019t been in the limelight for quite a while. I\u2019m also a decent Judd Nelson buff. That goes for some of the the other cast members with less limelight exposure. Obviously there\u2019s talent \u2026 but it wasn\u2019t used enough to make up for the shortcomings of the film. It seemed clear that Fayhey and Nelson were the chumming for a smart promotion-&amp;-publicity strategy. The story telling narrative stumbles and fumbles and falters, nevertheless,<\/p>\n<p>Set in the crumbling infrastructure of a Midwestern town on the brink of economic collapse, THE FINAL RUN follows an ex-con and former getaway driver Jack Marlowe (played by Fahey), who is drawn back into the underworld of drug smuggling for one last caper because he is desperate about his wife\u2019s poor health and the growing medical costs.<\/p>\n<p>I recall way back when I was student at Cornell U, Ithaca, NY, that there were undergraduate classmates involved in selling drugs, some just for friends and others for whomever they could work a deal.<br \/>\nAnyway, Marlowe teams up with Ethan Cross (played by Nelson), a disillusioned former federal agent.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wrapping Up:\u00a0<\/strong> THE FINAL RUN sputters to sustain interest. Scenes unfold at a glacial pace, with little narrative tension or emotional payoff. Characters drift through the plot with minimal development, and the visual style \u2014 though at times eye-catching \u2014 can\u2019t compensate for the lack of momentum.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s possible the filmmakers intended a meditative film experience with a philosophical touch for audiences, but the result feels more inert than introspective. Rather than drawing the viewer into a contemplative space, the film too often feels like it\u2019s stalling, making the experience more patience-testing than thought-provoking. I also thought I sensed some nuanced alluding going on, that themes and sub-themes were alluding mildly to the State of America as reflected in breaking news stories.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7155\" style=\"width: 110px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7155\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-7155\" src=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/gwm-700x700-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"150\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-7155\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><strong>the WORD<\/strong><\/em> Editor Gregg W. Morris<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are reviewers giving THE FINAL RUN a 3-star or 3.5-star rating. The <em><strong>WORD<\/em><\/strong> reviewer, calling it as he sees it, describes it as a slow-burn, melodramatic, character-driven, action-adventure film featuring not-quite-over-the-hill popular movie stars and filmmakers who once basked in the limelight. \u2013 Review by Gregg W. Morris, who thinks 3 stars is high.<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/the-final-run-2025-opening-in-select-theaters-and-on-demand-august-15-by-greggwmorris\/\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":36879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2269,2287],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2269","category-reviews-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36770"}],"version-history":[{"count":67,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36904,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36770\/revisions\/36904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}