A Nutshell Review: (DVD) The Way of the Gun (2000)

Author: DICK STEEL from Singapore
1 January 2006

Written by the same dude who wrote The Usual Suspects, The Way of the Gun is a much simpler tale compared to the award winning Suspects. It tells of two small time crooks, played by Ryan Phillippe and Benicio Del Toro, who get entangled in a game of crooks versus crooks when they try to pull of a kidnapping.

Dreaming of bigger things in life, but regardless of the method used to achieve their dreams of riches, they overhear a conversation at a sperm bank clinic (one of the most happening dialogues in the movie happens there) about a surrogate mother bearing the child of some rich family. They decide to kidnap the lady, played by Juliette Lewis, and hold the mother and child hostage.However, they embroil themselves into a bigger web of intrigue, as every character, from the mother, the husband and wife who employed her, the doctor, the bodyguards, to the "bagmen", all have their own agenda, and the relationships between one another must be one of the most complex written for the screen in recent times. Everything is more than meets the eye, and betrayals and double crossings are the agenda for the day.

The pacing is well measured, and there are moments of suspense masterfully injected at points in the movie. I like the initial hostage taking scene, where the sudden shift of focus and introduction of complexity catches our two anti-heroes Longbaugh (Del Toro) and Parker (Phillippe) completely off guard. The car chase and pursuit is also one of the more innovative and quirky scenes in the movie, one which Del Toro actually suggested,and got it made on screen.You have to watch it to believe.The finale gives a kick to western shoot em-up fans, as Longbaugh and Parker go head to head with everyone in a Mexican brothel, using modern day weapons of shotguns and handguns.

Thrown into the mix is veteran James Caan,as a bag-man extraordinaire having been so long in the business because of his experience in staying alive.Del Toro and Phillippe exude an excellent bond of camaraderie between their characters - they trust nobody except for themselves, while I thought Juliette Lewis was terrific in her role as the very pregnant mother caught between both sides, and yet bringing out strength as she fights for her child's and her own survival, taking her interests in her own hands.It's a good mix of action and workout for your brain as you figure out the relation ships between the characters as the narrative moves along. Suited for those mundane afternoons in which you want to break out from.No special additions in this Code 1 DVD.

                                                Kristin Lehman (perfect bitch)

 Well... It's Not Bad

Author: sherbetsaucers from United Kingdom
6 February 2007

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Opening with intrusive, loud music and grabbing your attention straight away Way Of The Gun is definitely a movie that intends to hold your concentration and not let go of it no matter what you might do to try and wriggle free. Not that I did much wiggling, I rarely do these days, must be something to do with my hips.

Starting with our two leads Parker (Ryan Phillippe) and Longbaugh (Benicio Del Toro) (if ever the term anti-hero was to apply to anyone it's them), we straight away realise that neither of these men really care about much in general. We're able to guess this by the way that one punches a woman in the face and head a couple of times, though really she did deserve it, and the other decided to kiss a perfect stranger, before stamping hard on her foot when she let him know just how much she didn't enjoy being kissed. This odd attitude is further re-enforced by the voice-over where we learn that while leads Parker and Longbaugh may believe in some kind of destiny, they have no intention of letting it rule their life. So we find ourselves, as so often we do in these situations, at a sperm bank. Here the pair overhear a doctor talking about a surrogate mother who is working for a very rich couple, and so a fiendish kidnapping plan is made.

What follows is a shoot-out you don't see and a high-speed car chase involving very slow moving cars. The car chase itself is a particular highlight for me. Still, once they have the kidnapped girl, Parker and Longbaugh quickly realise that they are in way over their heads. It appears that when kidnapping it's sometimes a good idea to find out who you are kidnapping from. Our two anti-heroes are not going to give up, culminating in a particularly slick final shootout. For those of you who may have noticed, the names Parker and Longbaugh are actually the real names of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Hands up anyone who thinks their final stand is going to go well?

Coming from the very complicated shaped pen of Christopher McQuarrie, writer of The Usual Suspects we can obviously expect plot twists and turns that will very quickly have us dazed and confused. In ancient Greece it was believed that the sun obviously goes around the earth. Assumptions can be wrong. Apart from one 'surprise' that wasn't all that surprising and a bombshell at the end that, while unexpected also wasn't all that explosive. Having now gained the enmity of McQuarrie for all eternity can I also say that the script itself is well written. The dialogue, while not realistic, is very well written and believable and each of the characters have something about them that we latch onto.

But of course writing isn't anything without decent performances to bring it out. Toro and Phillippe are both very, very cool and slick, despite the fact that they are also portrayed as being inept criminals, (two aspects that I didn't find gelled so well). Taye Diggs and Nicky Katt as the bodyguards/general mooks Jeffers and Obecks get to look very good throughout the movie, Diggs especially impressing with his double-crossing villain. However the two stand out performances come from James Caan and Geoffrey Lewis. Both of these men give fantastically understated performances, with their final scene together in the car being at once very poignant and close to hysterical.

They both have a world-weariness about them that is a fitting counter-point to the slick and stylish actions of the world around them. Caan is obviously reluctant to kill the two men he has been sent to deal with, indeed he clearly likes them far more than the people he is being forced to work with.I do need to make a special mention of the action sequences. The way that the actors move with and handle their guns just feels right. Apart from a couple of insane shots with a pistol the gunplay is very realistic and heightens the feeling of tension and danger throughout the movie.

This is a movie that tries to balance comedy, action and thriller elements. For the most part I think it manages admirably and is generally worth watching. This is definitely one that I enjoyed more halfway through once a friend had arrived and started watching it with me. Now and then you want to be able to grin at a friend and just nod, acknowledging that something you just watched was very cool, gruesome or cool and gruesome.

Violence Galore!

Author: frankwhat from Lakewood, NJ
15 October 2004

For any action movie fans out there that love shoot-outs that hinder on the brink of insanity then this movie is for you. The plot was hard to understand in some parts yet it was still good and sometimes the motives were beyond the viewer's grasp but it still flowed well regardless. There were some kick ass quotes as needed in this genre of film and James Caan was simply awesome in his role as an aging bag-man. While I'm not a huge fan of Ryan Phillippe he actually was passable as this character and utilized a suiting accent.

Benicio Del Toro was probably the best as his expressions and just the way he says things is unbeatable. Even though it was two hours long it seemed like only half that, so overall it's a great watch. My only warning is that if you're included in the faint of heart then this probably is one to avoid as this was definitely a dab of the good OL' ultra-violence!Final Say:Movies: Would've been enjoyable to see it there.DVD Purchase: Based on how low it's currently priced I probably won't be able to help myself. Rental: Come on, you know you want to!!!