| The Way of the Gun |
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| 1/2 |
| Rating: Mediocre Distributor: Artisan Entertainment MPAA Rating: R Genre: Thriller Running Length: 1 hour, 59 minutes Release Date: Setpember 8th, 2000 Director: Christopher McQuarrie Cast: Ryan Phillipe, Benicio Del Toro, Juliette Lewis, Taye Diggs, James Caan, and Nicky Katt. |
| picture above from www.wayofthegun.com |
| Plot: Some thugs (Ryan Phillipe, Benicio Del Toro) decide they want to make some easy money buy kidnapping a pregnant woman (Juliette Lewis) they hear has rich connections. However, instead the woman turns out to be harvesting a baby for a giant money launderer and his family who has no intention of paying the thugs. They family sends out its goons (including James Caan, Taye Diggs) to take care of business. Nothing goes as planned, and quite a few people die in the process. The whole extravanza turns out to be more of a pissing contest between all the macho men. |
| Critique: Christopher McQuarrie who won a screenplay oscar for The Usual Suspects makes his directorial debut with an incredibally bloody, messy film. In some scenes he really showcases his direction, but he manifests a terrible, not to mention ugly script. I really did think his oscar winning screenplay was pretty good, but this one failed miserably. The acting is fine, and even though Ryan Phillipe doesn't perform well, he performs what appears to be the best of his capabilities. Benicio Del Toro is his usual strong self, though his character is paper thin. That is not his directorial mistake, it's the script really that cripples him. James Caan, and Taye Diggs are pretty solid, even if they seem trapped in a messy story also. The cinematography and score are all fine too, which makes the whole film seem like even more of a waste. McQuarrie's main problem was he could not craft any characters we could root for or like. They all just kind of meander around killing themselves. The characters are not round, nor do they present any depth. The seemingly complicated storyling adds up to not much for than an unintelligent, unorganized, uninvolving tale. In conclusion, the film is a waste of talent. McQuarrie tried to hard and ended up with bloody idiocy. The film rambles on with boring conversations and undeveloped people who we end up not really caring for. review by supernothingman |
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