Review of The Way of the Gun (2000) by Caleb M — 02 Jul 2009

You'll know if this film is for you after reading this quote:

"Shut that cunt's mouth or I'll come over there and fuckstart her head!".

Intrigued? Amused? If so, go watch Christopher McQuarrie's The Way of the Gun. You'll enjoy it. Full of violence, language and convoluted twists, this is one hard film to get by. McQuarrie's lead characters are played by the charismatic Benicio Del Toro and Ryan Phillippe in a ridiculous accent), two smalltime criminals looking to shoot the moon and make their fortune. How do they plan on doing that? Well, by kidnapping Juliette Lewis, a pregnant surrogate mother and ransoming her for $15 million because the parents of her unborn child are filthy, dirty-money rich. But shit gets complicated, the rich couple, Lewis' doctor, James Caan, body guards and others get greedy, angry, confused and scared.

McQuarrie piles about 2 or 3 too many twists for his own good onto this plot, but the charismatic players and intense action keep the pace up and story intriguing. Even when the film gets too confusing for its own good, Del Toror, Caan, Lewis and Phillippe all have interesting dialogue, and the final shoot-out is classic pulp. Overall The Way of the Gun may be a failure, unable to decide whether it wants to be a grisly action thriller or a slick meditation on crime and God, or simply unable to satisfyingly balance the two, but it is entertaining, disturbingly so perhaps, but entertaining none the less.