Run Nixon's heart is in the right place. Too bad this new film doesn't quite live up to its potential.
In the projects outside the Las Vegas strip, eleven year-old Nixon suffers a heart attack while playing basketball. His parents are ill prepared for such an emergency: Dad Dre is a repo man and Mom Stacy's a stripper, and neither has the money to cover his operation. While Nixon's life hangs in the balance, Mom Stacy comes upon a hidden cache of cash in the club's office. She applies it to the bill, the operation goes on, Nixon is saved. Thing is, that money belongs to Slice, a gangsta with a gold grill, low growl, and a maniacal cackle. Lucky he's in prison. But luck like that doesn't hold out for long. Slice returns with a vengeance, and Nixon's father must return to his own gangsta roots to deal with his former homey.
Run Nixon has sincerity but is a slog. Its pacing is slow and its editing often confusing. First-time director SkyDirects (real name Sky Palmer) shoots much of the action in dark shadows and doesn't always have the camera in the right place. Just as the suspense builds, he wastes time on irrelevant distractions that deflate the plot. The sound mix is muddy, music often drowning out dialogue (five mixers are listed on the credits; couldn't somebody get it right?).
Still, you can say this about Run Nixon: it aims high. The initial premise -- the race to save a child in distress -- is strong and the actors are uniformly fine: the precocious Emperor Kaioyus as Nixon, Dreux Pierre Frédéric as Dre, Sicily Cameron as Stacy, and Jordan Lee Brown as the menacing Slice. Scenes with Nixon and his Dad have a real poignancy, especially those set in the living room with no furniture except a huge outdated style TV.
That SkyDirects wanted to tell young Nixon's story, and that he had an engaging young actor to play him, suggests solving the medical predicament should be the main conflict. But the human currency is used up too quickly, leaving us with banger bluster and poorly structured action sequences.
The setting could be part of the problem. The outskirts of Las Vegas are spread out and barren. Gang movie tension comes from staking one’s claim, usually because there’s nowhere else to go, and defending one's 'hood. Run Nixon features too many shots of retreating taillights and cars starting and slowly pulling away, making the action flabby.
Run Nixon's poster trumpets it as "gripping" and "adrenaline-pumping." Sorry, it isn't that. But SkyDirects is a director to watch, and one hopes his next project will be more on the money.
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Run Nixon. Directed by SkyDirects. 2023. In theaters. 113 minutes.