Review of The Way of the Gun (2000) by Allan C — 12 Jun 2015

I'm going to make a bold statement and say this is the best action films of the last 20 years (Michael Mann's "Heat" is the action flick prior to that 20 year mark). Writer director Christopher McQuarrie, the writer of "The Usual Suspects" made a masterpiece that deconstructs the modern action film.

Telling the story of two scumbags, Benicio Del Toro and Ryan Phillippe, who kidnap a surrogate mother of a rich man in hopes of ransoming her for millions. The plan, of course, goes away and things get violent and crazy.

The general story isn't all that different from any number of action/crime films, but it's the way McQuarrie tells the story that makes this film so unique, taking many well worn action film tropes and turning them on their head, but still making them work to great effect.

The film starts not with an action sequence to build up protagonists, but starts with them getting the hell beat out of them and left lying in the street over a pointless argument (a very funny argument though).

There's also one of the slowest car chase scenes ever, but it's wildly exciting and suspenseful. At one point there's a explosive sounding shootout, which the audience never sees and ends up only hearing through a closed door from the pregnant Juliette Lewis' perspective.

Then when the audience does see the bloody aftermath, the streets are strewn with innocent bystanders like you never see in major Hollywood productions, and the shootout that follows is equal to the shootout in Michael Mann's bank robbery scene in "Heat.

" And you also get realistic gunfire sound effects, as compared to the usual bombastic explosions you hear in most action flicks. And then there's James Caan! He plays a bagman/fix-it type of characters (sort of like Winston Wolfe in "Pulp Fiction), but as compared to his fellow character tropes, he dresses like your grandpa and looks like a washed up has been.

When Caan delivers the line "The only thing you can guess about a broken down old man is that he is a survivor." it brims with a heavy unexplained character history. That's also kind of the magic of many of the characters; that there are hints of their pasts and backstories, but none are fully detailed.

But back to Caan, he's is a great actor who's been wasted in too many films and TV shows lately, but this film gave him the type of part he deserves. There's a lot of tough guys in the films, but he's the biggest bad ass in this film and really doesn't care about proving it to anyone.

Usually action film characters, wether heroes or villains, need to be cool. Caan is not that at all in his Members Only jacket and J.C. Penny clothes, but he consequentially comes off as even cooler. Taye Diggs and Nicky Katt are worth mentioning as a couple dead eyed, very cold and calculating bodyguards.

It was also fun to rematch this film and see Scott Wilson after his breakout role as Hershel on AMC's "The Walking Dead." But my favorite supporting role has to be Geoffrey Lewis as fourth choice of James Caan's to help him get back the pregnant woman, who characters is introduced with Caan's phone call interrupting his suicide plan involving a sack full of partially loaded guns.

I'll also say that this is the film that made me think Ryan Phillippe was okay and not just a dull Hollywood Tiger Beat pretty boy. He's actually pretty bad ass in this film. Joe Kraemer provides a memorable score, who looking at his IMDB page has done quite a lot, but only until recently started scoring major Hollywood productions.

While this film takes apart the Walter Hill type of action film and turns it on it's head, it absolutely delivers the action film goods. Something about this movie just clicked for me. I know this film wasn't a hit with critics across the board, but I'm on board with the critics who really liked this film.

Since McQuarrie does subvert action film cliches so much in this film, it may annoy the casual action film fan, but for people wanting something different, this film is well worth checking out.