The Buzz: 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. Starring Jeff Fahey (“Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1”, “Fire Country”, “Lost”), Golden Globe® Nominee Judd Nelson (The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire), Drew Waters ( “Friday Night Lights”, “Hysteria!”) and introducing Maddie Henderson (TikTok culture influencer sensation with 4M+ followers).
Jeff Fahey
Judd Nelson
88 Minutes | Action |Thriller | Drama | Independent | NR TV-14
Directed by Chris Helton. Written by Walter Czura, Jason Usry
Produced by Drew Waters, Chris Helton, Brent Cooper
SYNOPSIS: 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’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.
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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 … and so one … and so forth.
Reviewer’s Take on THE FINAL RUN
THE FINAL RUN is 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.
I’m a Jeff Fayhey buff even if he hasn’t been in the limelight for quite a while. I’m also a decent Judd Nelson buff. That goes for some of the the other cast members with less limelight exposure. Obviously there’s talent … but it wasn’t 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-&-publicity strategy. The story telling narrative stumbles and fumbles and falters, nevertheless,
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’s poor health and the growing medical costs.
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.
Anyway, Marlowe teams up with Ethan Cross (played by Nelson), a disillusioned former federal agent.
Wrapping Up: 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 — though at times eye-catching — can’t compensate for the lack of momentum.
It’s 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’s 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.
the WORD Editor Gregg W. Morris