The Way of the Gun (2000)

God what a violent weekend it has been for me!

Criminals Longbaugh (Benicio Del Toro) and Parker (Ryan Phillippe) kidnap a pregnant surrogate mother (Juliette Lewis) for a $15 million ransom from the baby’s gangster father in Oscar-winning writer Christopher MacQuarrie’s (The Usual Suspects) directorial debut. But as the duo waits in Mexico with the woman in tow, they discover they may be in over their heads.

When I saw the trailer for this film I was not so impressed one bit. I was expecting a high action packed thriller, with high energy due to its song being “Break Stuff” by Limp Bizkit. But what I got from that trailer was totally different than what I ended up with.

There are a lot of good things that go with this film. First of all, the action is very top-notched. There are plenty of well-choreographed shooting scenes that turn out to be exciting and very smart to watch.

Secondly, the acting is actually quite good in the film. Phillippe and Del Toro have good chemistry as you would expect, and play as these villains in the beginning, but slowly by the end you start to root for them. The best performance comes from James Caan here who gives a solid supporting performance, and shows that he won’t be out acted by a bunch of youngsters.

Everything seems like it can work for this film, but the one problem that MacQuarrie can’t overcome is the really choppy editing. At some parts you have these little cheesy heart-to-hearts, then at one point you have this gun slinging action fight, then you have another tail of deception. I felt like there was so much crammed into this film that there wasn’t any time for it to all develop.

Another thing I didn’t like about the film was that all its lies, deceptions, twists, and turns really started to become an annoyance for me. I really wish they just focused on the story at hand, rather than trying to create all these other not-needed stories where everything doesn’t turn out to be what it seems.

Consensus: The Way Of The Gun has some high-quality action, and top-notch acting, but can’t overcome its sloppy and sluggish editing.

5.5/10=Rental!!