The Way of the Gun Review
by "John Beachem" (john_beachem AT hotmail DOT com)October 19th, 2000
WAY OF THE GUN
Review by John Beachem
* * * 1/2
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Written by: Christopher McQuarrie
Mr. Parker (Ryan Phillippe) and Mr. Longbaugh (Benicio Del Toro) are two lazy fellows who spend their days unemployed and making cash off petty theft and trips to the sperm bank (I think their names were an homage to Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs"). One day they hear about a woman, Robin (Juliette Lewis), who is carrying the child of a millionaire named Chidduck (Scott Wilson). So, the two decide to kidnap Robin and ransom her back to Chidduck for fifteen million dollars. The catch is, Chidduck works with the mob and soon has his army of goons, led by the world weary Joe Sarno (James Caan), after our daring duo. So the two and their kidnappee are now on the run, and right on their tails are Sarno, Chidduck's two chief bodyguards (Taye Diggs, Nicky Katt), and a young doctor named Allen Painter (Dylan Kussman), who may be more than just Robin's doctor. In the meantime, everyone is backstabbing everyone. One of the bodyguards, Jeffers (Taye Diggs), is sleeping with Chidduck's wife, Francesca (Kristin Lehman); Allen Painter is plotting against everyone; and Sarno has a personal interest in the affair and is willing to kill anyone for his own inscrutable purposes. In fact, the only people who aren't scheming are Parker and Longbaugh.
Sound a little confusing? Well that's because it is. Yet nearly every fault with Christopher McQuarrie's (writer of the brilliantly twisted "The Usual Suspects") "Way of the Gun" can be attributed to one man: the editor, Stephen Semel (he also edited "Three to Tango", which explains a lot). "Way of the Gun" is a good movie which could have been a lot better if about a half hour of its running time had been cut out. The film starts off with a bang, as our two protagonists get mobbed in a fight for sitting on a guy's car. After the rather long opening credits it stays interesting as the duo plans the kidnapping and then carries it out. Yet just as I was getting my hopes up things start to lag - a lot. So my hopes began tumbling through the floor, and things pick up again. Then come crashing back down. You get the general trend here? This keeps happening till the film's climax, which actually managed to run longer than the climax to "What Lies Beneath". The climax, while entertaining, wears out its welcome after about fifteen minutes (yes, it's that long). Then, finally, after this roller-coaster ride of a movie, the film just sort of stops. I was starting to think Hollywood writers, particularly an intelligent Oscar winner like McQuarrie, had learned how to end a movie. Guess I was wrong.
"Way of the Gun" does feature an impressively large and talented cast. Leading the cast is Ryan Phillippe ("Cruel Intentions"), who I usually think has about as much acting talent as your average parking meter. Yet he proves me wrong here, giving an adequate performance which might even have qualified as good if it wasn't held up next to Benicio Del Toro's ("The Usual Suspect") performance for comparison. Del Toro gives an awe inspring turn and I only hope he is recognized by at least one awards committee out there at year's end. Next up we have Juliette Lewis ("What's Eating Gilbert Grape"), playing the film's only truly sane character. She does a good job with her speaking lines, but her portrayal of a pregnant woman just doesn't work. I've seen pregnant women walk, even women due to give birth at any time, and they don't waddle around like large penguins. James Caan ("Mickey Blue Eyes") does a surprisingly good job as the bag man, Sarno. Taye Diggs, who was the very definition of cool in "Go" plays a similar, though far colder character here. The only weak link (but what a weak link it is) is Dylan Kussman ("Dead Poets Society"). It doesn't help that this guy gets the film's only really bad dialogue (a monologue about how his life turned out), but I think he could have made even the best dialogue sound like your average highschool playwright wrote it. Nicky Katt ("Boiler Room") is given very little screen time as the other bodyguard, but watch for a quick appearance by SNL's Sarah Silverman as a raving girlfriend.
Let me first cover the things that really work in "Way of the Gun". First, the dialogue is quite wonderful. McQuarrie's dialogue in "The Usual Suspects" was good (who doesn't know the line about the greatest trick of the devil?), but some of the dialogue in this film puts it to shame. One of my favorite lines was: "You wanna know what I'm gonna tell god when I meet him? I'm gonna tell him I was framed." There's also a great scene where Parker, Longbaugh, and Robin sit down to play hearts. Longbaugh and Parker explain the rules to Robin, but everything they say has an intentional double meaning about her situation. "Do you understand the game?" Parker coldly asks, and Robin breaks down crying. Second, the story is strangely interesting, if a little bizarre. No, I don't mean interesting like, "Gee, I've never seen a building fall down like that before." I mean McQuarrie takes what could have been a basic kidnapping story and turns it into a clever, Tarantinoesque tale where everyone is plotting against everyone, and there's a surprise waiting around every turn. Finally, the film's score, by composer Joe Kraemer, is a wonderful blend of Spanish style music; soothing, slow segments; and fierce melodies used during the many gun fights.
On the downside, we obviously have the editing. All I can figure is the film was made and released before Stephen Semel even had a clue what was going on. I don't mean the movie was poorly edited, I mean it appears to have skipped the editing process entirely. The film also suffers from a fairly poor ending. Not only does it go on far too long, but the gunfights go from being interesting and even realistically made, to tedious and video game like. This becomes even more true when a group of bag men show up at the film's end for no other purpose than to act as human targets. Last we have McQuarrie's direction. Was it bad? No, it was actually rather promising. However, this being his first time in the director's chair, his inexperience is painfully obvious in the way he paces the film. So, while I enjoyed "Way of the Gun", I have no desire to see it again. If you are interested in seeing it, I'd suggest catching a matinee or waiting for video (given its poor performance at the box office it shouldn't take long to get there. The film runs far too long at 119 minutes, which could easily have been cut to 100 if not 90. I give it three and a half out of five stars.
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Past reviews can be found at:
http://www.epinions.com/user-elerad or
http://us.imdb.com/ReviewsBy?John+Beachem
* * * * * - One of the best movies of the year.
* * * * - Great flick, try and catch this one.
* * * - Okay movie, hits and misses.
* * - Pretty bad, see it at your own risk.
* - See this one only if you enjoy pain.
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