Starring Ryan Phillippe and Benicio Del Toro
Not that confusion is a bad thing, but when each character has innumerable relations with each other, the story becomes increasingly soap-operatic, only wiht more blood and less sex. There are reasons why soap operas are daily instead of weekly.
Christopher McQuarrie directs "Gun," and also wrote the screenplay for "The Usual Suspects." And just as that movie was applauded for its calculated plot twists and turns, "Gun" engages viewers in the world of kidnappers and malcontents by constantly altering the current perspective.
Parker and Longbaugh (Phillipe and Del Toro) are two bored young adults looking for something to do in life. While making money the old-fashioned way (donating to the sperm bank), the duo overhears a potential kidnapping opporutnity that could garner riches and allow them to continue to do nothing the rest of their lives, only comfortably.
The fun-toters tab a pregnant child-carrier for another couple as an easy way to get ransom money. The catch (there's always a catch) sneaks up in the form of two bodyguards, jeffers and "Bodyguard" (Taye Diggs and Nicky Katt). THe two have been hired by Mr. Chidduck (Scott Wilson), the adopted father of Robin's (Juliette Lewis) not-yet-born son, to protect the baby at all costs.
And so commences the most convoluted birth this side of Rosemary's crib. The kidnappers are successful, at least in their initial kidnapping attempt, through beautifully choreographed shootouts with the ugliest of weapons. Manic gunshots are juxtaposed with slow-motion standstills in darkened alleys, a great technique.
But the bodyguards never stop the chase. The intermediary between the chasees and the chasers is the haggard Joe Sarno (James Caan), a "bag man" attempting to negotiate the ransom at a lower price. Sarno, somehow alive after years of dodging bullets, adds a sense of respect to the activities of theives and malevolents.
Each character changes significantly in the course of the two-hour film. A turn of the head or a misguided focus can confuse even the quickest of learners. Isn't he with them? Why is she trying to run? Why does a movie reviewer ask questions in his own review?
For a viewer to accept Phillippe as a hardened criminal takes tremendous imagination. Despite facial hair, it's "cute" facial hair. Phillippe just can't look ugly, the poor kid. And although there are references to past indescretions, Phillippe and Del Toro are two guys in it for the money. The complications around them could use the simplicity of greed.
Or the simplicity of the calculated cool contained by Del Toro and Caan. Compared to Phillippe, Del Toro owns the perfect look and feel for a villain. The bags under the eyes hiding just behind the cold steel barrell serves as the poster look for our Tarantino-tinged movie world.
The overabundance of guns, infinite rounds of ammunition and mind-numbing plot twists are all strung together in a climax reminiscent of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." the final shootout (you knew there had to be a final shootout) is in a small town square that looks to have seen a few battles before. Like it or not, the final prize transforms from a fetus to a bag filled with money.
Taken as parts of a whole, "The Way of the Gun" features great characters and finely crafted scenes. It's a shame all the technical expertise is lost not in a blanket of gunfire but the spastic dancer of a plot. In a rare case, too much ambition results in a shot to the foot.
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