WAY OF THE GUN (2000)
Grade: C-
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Screenplay: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Benicio Del Torro, James Caan, Juliette Lewis, Taye Diggs, Scott Wilson, Nicky Katt, Dylan Kussman, Kristen Lehman
WAY OF THE GUN is brimming with surprises, some good, most bad. One of the good ones is Ryan Phillippe's surprisingly halfway decent performance. After the actor gained much attention by posing and preening through teen swill like I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, he hinted at a bit growth in last year's CRUEL INTENTIONS with his amusingly contemptuous John Malkovich meets James Spader performance, though his acting in that film faltered around the third act mark, precisely when the screenplay made his character grow a heart (presumably to appeal to his training bra wearing fans) and start bellyaching about how he'd fallen for his "target". It was a dramatic shift that neither Phillippe nor the film's director could negotiate. But he seems to be trying and that shouldn't be overlooked (or probably over praised) seeing as how, at this point, he really isn't required to do much but look pretty. Here, Phillippe has procured a five day growth of beard, his hair askew and his affect altered to sound something like James Cagney in all his "Look here, see" glory. It's tough to believe a pretty boy like Phillippe as a hard ass, but his performance actually helps with the illusion. Unlike Ben Affleck's puppy dog approach in REINDEER GAMES, Phillippe is believable and not too bad at that.
As for the plot, well, that's one of the bad surprises; Phillippe and the great Benicio Del Torro play two moronic (and not even remotely likeable) criminals (introduced to us in the parking lot of a rave where they stupidly pick a fight with about twenty people) who hatch a scheme to kidnap a surrogate mother (Juliette Lewis) after overhearing that she's carrying the baby of Painter (Scott Wilson), a very well connected wealthy man. The kidnapping devolves into a laborious shoot out where much damage is done and many are killed. But the anti-heroes escape with the woman while an aging hit man (James Caan) and two scheming bodyguards (Taye Diggs and Nicky Katt) remain in pursuit.
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the screenwriter who won an Oscar for his work on USUAL SUSPECTS, an overrated piece of crime noir in many circles (this one included), WAY OF THE GUN is a hodgepodge of crime thriller motifs that just oozes eye rolling familiarity. Unlike Phillipe, McQuarrie doesn't seem to be growing at all; he fills his flick with a sprawling labyrinth of plot all snatched from movies I know I've seen before and worse, it feels like it. The film lacks even a fresh approach (like what Soderbergh did OUT OF SIGHT or THE LIMEY) to its clichés, all of which are spewed before us in a picture that tries so desperately to be hip and gritty without bothering to notice how common it is. It features characters living by a code they seemed to have picked up in Sam Peckinpah 101 rather than any thing resembling life. Even attempts at emotional weight feel strained like in preposterous scene where enemies James Caan and Benicio Del Torro stop in their tracks to have a cup of coffee and pontificate on life, philosophy, etc. I didn't like the bit much when it first appeared in HEAT, here, it's even more self consciously "dramatic".
USUAL SUSPECTS, which also featured a bunch of low lives that seemed to live by a code they learned from the movies, worked to some degree because of that astonishing twist ending. Nowadays an astonishing twist per ending is de rigeur, never mind if it deems all that transpired before it completely inconsequential. Thus, nearly every character in WAY comes with at least one dirty little secret (most amateurishly projected before they appear) and it too has an ironic little twist at the end (nothing earth shattering, like in the USUAL SUSPECTS) but I admit, I didn't see it coming, and I smiled. However most of the movie feels exactly like the interrogation scenes between Palminteri and Spacey in USUAL SUSPECTS: a lot of faux huffing and puffing with no rhythm or reason. Or substance.
It's just as overplotted as SUSPECTS, and often dull as any overplotted movie without interesting characters, a distinctive style, or a good script would be. Even the good stuff, most of which involves James Caan (doing a fine job), feels odd and out of place in a movie that thinks lines like "Karma is only justice with out the satisfaction" are clever. At one point Caan laments "Need is the ultimate monkey" a line so inexplicable he might as well have said "love is like hippo ass". I've seen porno with better dialogue. And some with better plot lines too. But rarely has porn offered up such a talented cast (I mean, can you even compare James Caan to Ron Jeremy). Caan slips into this role with seeming ease, he could do this kind of soft-spoken tough guy in a coma, but he manages to give his character depth and weariness. Benicio Del Torro is always welcome, though here he plays it fairly straight (rather than another oddball character creation like the ones the actor gave us in USUAL SUSPECTS and EXCESS BAGGAGE), adopting a Brad Pitt-esque quizzical pout to go along with his heavy swaggering. Speaking of Pitt, his ex, Juliette Lewis, is a weak link, either shouting her lines with ear shattering shrillness, or waddling about like a silly goose. Nicky Katt was brilliant in a brief role in THE LIMEY, here his role is just as brief only he seems wasted; he's only kept around for his cold presence. Taye Diggs has a similar function, cool as ever, but never a character, though the guy has one helluva death scene.
For the most part WAY is incessantly talky with no reason to give a hippo's ass about any thing that transpires since its characters are never more than simplistic pawns. It's vaguely Tarantino-ish, but in a bad TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES NM way, with Phillippe, in one scene, leaping into a stupid rant about "faggots" migrating to Los Angeles. You know the routine. The final shoot out is pure bargain basement John Woo (who himself seems to be doing bargain basement John Woo) with interchangeable bad guys lining up to be shot at. But those gun shots sure crack like thunder. Just the other day I was watching an old DIRTY HARRY movie on cable and was stunned to hear the weak elephant grunt-like sound that emanated from Harry's fetishized Smith and Wesson. Oh how far we've come.
http://www.geocities.com/incongruity98 Reeling (Ron Small)
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