Review: Way of the Gun

Dir: Christopher Mc Quarrie (Usual Suspects)

Cast: Ryan Phillippe, Benicio Del Toro, James Caan, Juliette Lewis

Category: Crime

Plot: A mobster and his wife are having a baby with surrogate mother Juliette Lewis. A couple of small time crooks (Del Torro and Phillippe) kidnap the girl. A roller coaster of plot twists and gunfights follow.

DVD Special Features: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only), Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby, Commentary by director/ writer Christopher McQuarrie and composer Joe Kraemer, Production notes, Theatrical trailer(s), Cast and crew interviews, Isolated Music Track with Commentary by Composer, Storyboards and scripts of a deleted scene, Cast and crew information, Widescreen anamorphic format

I really like Mc Quarrie’s work and I feel he puts together a good commentary. He seems well grounded and gives some good filmmaking insights. I would have loved to see some more deleted scene material.

The Good: Mc Quarrie has great style in the way that he writes and directs. This film has a nice gritty feel to it that many directors would love to be able to pull off. The action scenes pop with intensity, and the blood does fly.

The first ten minutes of this movie cracked me up. It had a wicked blend of black comedy and violence that few directors want to be a part of.

The Bad: What went wrong is what I asked myself when this movie was over. I really liked a lot about this movie but when it was all over it felt hollow. Then it hit me, I never really got attached to any of the characters in this movie. There were so many plot twists I never really got to know the main characters or what made them tick.

As much as I hate to say it, there were almost too many plot twists dangling in the wind when this one wraps up. A little less intrigue and a little more character development would have made this movie awesome.

Bottom Line: Definitely rent it ….Buy it if you’re a Mc Quarrie fan.

Rating: Three Cocktails