“The Way Of The Gun is informed by cult movie history: characters are named after Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (born Robert Parker and Harry Longbaugh), and exploitation auteur Joe Sarno - a filmmaker known only to people who consider Russ Meyer too mainstream for their taste…. As it trails its bullet- and blood-spattered way south of the border, there are echoes of the Sam Peckinpah of The Getaway (1972), but the referencing and echoing is so elaborate that it’s hard to see an actual film inside all the homages. Like The Usual Suspects, The Way Of The Gun is narrated, with ‘Parker’ explaining how he and pal ‘Longbaugh’ got into an unplanned kidnapping… A strength of The Ususal Suspects is that for all its straggling, it had a focus that this notably lacks - of course, the former’s plot was being made up as it went along, an excuse for not making 100 per cent sense that is unavailable to this sloppier piece. And Phillippe, in an ill-advised attempted beard, is not within hailing distance of Kevin Spacey as a story salesman.” Hardly high praise, Robert Ebert the American film critic had this to say for the film: “As a video, viewed at less than full attention The Way of the Gun could nicely fill the gaps of a slow Saturday night. It's when you focus on it that you lose patience. McQuarrie pulls, pummels and pushes us, makes his characters jump through hoops, and at the end produces carloads of "bag men" who have no other function than to pop up and be shot at (all other available targets have already been killed). Enough, already.” It’s fair to say that their opinions are not the minority view. At the time of writing the IMDb rating for The Way of the Gun was 6.5 out of 10 with 14,090 votes. Hardly overwhelmingly positive, in fact anything under 7.5 on IMDb is often considered a poor result, None of this is to imply that every critic thought it was a terrible film, but that most thought it was underwhelming or messily constructed. However most of the reviews for this film seem to have been bogged down in comparisons. Frequently the film is juxtoposed with both Christopher McQuarries’ screenplay for Bryan Singer’s The Usual Suspects produced five years earlier, this is bad enough as the films only have the word “crime” in common, but worse still The Way of Gun was also frequently refered to as post-Tarantino is some sort of dulluded attempt to catagorise a series of hiest-gone-wrong movies which emerged shortly after the sucess of Resevoir Dogs. What were they talking about? Is it because there are guns in the film, because you know, guns had never been seen in a film before Resevoir Dogs. Was it because there are long scenes of dialogue inbetween the films set pieces? Maybe, afterall before Tarantino, characters never spoke to each other did they? It wouldn’t be so bad, if the dialogue was ladden with movie or pop culture references, but it isn’t. Beyond the obvious Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid reference there isn’t another worthy of mention. For referencing purposes I’d be far more inclined to compare McQuarries’ script to the work of Kevin Williamson, for its mixture of serious gunplay and long stretches with laconic characters I’d lean towards Michael Mann, in fact Mann’s concept for Miami Vice, having two lead characters who understand each other so well that they don’t actually need to say anything to one and other is here done far more sucessfully. Parker and Longbaugh often share the briefest of glances which convey far more than any line of dialogue, yet their relationship isn’t ill defined or lacking in chemistry. They’re professional to a point, but the occasional inadequacies within their criminal enterprises or ones disapproval over the others actions often exposes a fractured relationship with a switching power dynamic, because of this McQuarries sucseeds with The Way of the Gun where Mann failed with Miami Vice. But ultimately comparing this film to Kevin Williamson or Michael Mann is a little stretched as what we’re left with is a film which can’t be easily compared with anything you’ve seen before, that’s not to say it’s entirely original, nothing ever is, but The Way of the Gun has something of a unique mood, a modern western which frequently borders with the crime genre and occasionally dabbles in comedy before plundging you into out right blood thirsty violence. A film where the difference between heros and villians is barely perceptable, from the shots to the soundtrack, The Way of the Gun has a very clear edge over its contemporaries. This uncatagorisable quality probably emerged from the film makers production ethos which was to create a crime movie without any cliches, a near impossible task which The Way of the Gun does not achieve, but it does come pretty damn close. It’s an audacious film to attempt, certainly to openly attempt because once you know of the ethos you are at risk of spending large portions of the film hunting for the clichies which doubtlessly occur. This lends The Way of the Gun an undertone of originality, there is a very clear sense that something new is being attempted, from the opening scene where Parker and Longbaugh pick an entirely unnecessary fight with a couple by sitting on their car and setting an alarm off. The conflict escalates to the point of violence but instead of attacking the male of the couple, Parker punches the woman square in the face. The fact that the woman is an unlikeable, hideously vile bitch means that the scene does have a certain amount of satisfaction when we see her walking away bloody mouthed, however it still manages to set up the complete lack of any moral compass within the film. There is much to admire about The Way of the Gun, especially for the viewer who doesn’t consider Ryan Phillippe’s facial hair to be integral to the films success. In fact those critics of the film who fixated on Phillippe, and his beard, really ought to get over it, yes it was a moment of reverse casting which at first is perplexing and the part hardly requires him to stretch himself beyond looking continually pissed off, but he is believable as Mr. Parker if for no other reason, than how unlike a hit man stroke professional criminal he appears to be as its highly doubtful that any hit men in real life look or dress like hit men in the movies. Only Parker’s position as the narrator gives him first refusal for main character status, but really such status could easily be attributed to Del Torro, Cann or even Lewis. Rather than considering this a fault I actually admire McQuarrie for choosing to run with multiple protagonists, each of them belivable, sometimes likeable, othertimes dispickable. The amorality or immorality of the world they inhabit is never up for question or judgement, the closest it comes to this is when Parker considers a paedophile he once killed, his recountance of the events doesn’t stop to ponder if he should or shouldn’t have killed the man, it’s assumed that he did, instead he fixates on the fact that the paedophile prayed to God for forgiveness and that bothered him. When he asks Longbaugh what he’ll say to God when they come to their day of judgment, Longbaugh casually replies that he’ll claim he was framed. This is the most that the main characters consider their life or world, it’s not theirs to consider - it’s just the way it is. We also have Del Torro’s performance to strongly consider. Pre-Traffic success Del Torro was probably best known at this point from The Usual Suspects and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Within a year of this films release his status as a serious actor would be solidified but at this point he was often dismissed as just another in a long line of trendy young actors, hard to believe now, but Del Torro definitely suffered from critics pigeon holing his “type” and not seriously considering his work in The Way of Gun, which is surprising as I would seriously consider it one of his strongest performances. Such a subtly expressive face, he has relatively little dialogue in the film, he is the laconic foil to Parker’s loud mouth bully. Towards the end of the film McQuarrie holds his camera on Del Torro for what feels like minutes. Others talk around him but Del Torro quietly mulls over what is occuring, you can almost see the cogs turning in Longbaugh’s mind. Del Torro isn’t sat pulling faces, but is actually thinking about the situation which spills through onto the screen. Juliette Lewis is strong as the heavily pregnant hostage; always a good choice for the unconventional director’s female lead, her peculiar manner and style fits in well with this cast. She also genuinely moves like a pregnant woman, not causally hopping around as they so often do on less attentive productions. Her character arc might be the only predictable element of The Way of the Gun, wanting to keep her baby rather than give it to the parents; however her reasons for wanting to keep her unborn child are original. James Cann is on typically fine form here as Sarno, he also gets some of the best lines of dialogue in the film including my personal favorite when far younger Obecks postures towards him like he’s about to start a fight, Sarno put his hand on Obecks shoulder and politely informs him that in this business the only thing he can assume about a broken down old man, is that he’s a survivor. This brings me to what I consider the only flaw within The Way of the Gun - it’s a little too smart for its own good. It bubbles up memorable, intelligent lines of dialogue, and its three main set pieces are meticulously planned to the point where it’s hard to believe that anyone in real life could be that on the ball that much of the time. Lines like: “Karma is only justice without the satisfaction”, or “there’s always free cheese at the mouse trap”, when discussing the ransom money Sarno correctly points out that “Fifteen million dollars is not money. It’s a motive with a universal adaptor on it.” Threats are carefully worded like “I promise you a day of reckoning that you won’t live long enough to never forget” Parker makes frequent observations on the nature of language, when an interviewer asks him if he’s heterosexual, he replies “Can I ask you something? Are you a faggot? See, you asked me if I was heterosexual; I asked you the same question, only I was clear about the answer I was looking for.” Even sharper than this is Parker’s observation that the longest distance between two points is a kidnapper and his money, which basically sets the films plot line up. Later in the film one character observes that a plan is just a list of things that don’t happen. Very sharp dialogue, but perhaps a little too sharp for its own good because often it leaves the audience considering how intelligent the dialogue is, enjoying the truisms, or the word play so much that less attention is paid to characters or story.
“The way we handle guns in the film, we wanted to treat them serious. I went to school in weapons for that film, and I think anyone who's going to own a gun should do the same... All [the crtics] saw was a violent movie, and they didn't like it. But I think it's a smart film, too, for a more mature audience. In America it was marketed like it was for early-20s/teenagers but it's kind of like a film for an older generation. It's straight to the point. It's not flashy and I'm very proud of that… We've done a lot of films with weapons that make people laugh, like Pulp Fiction, and they're fun. But now I think you should teach something. Those things have the power of God. You can just turn the lights off any time you want. I think the law should say: "If you want to play with guns in the movies, show me the horror.” McQuarrie stated previously that he was close to quitting Hollywood because despite being a successful writer he could never get his film made. I hope this never becomes the case, because his approach to films comes from a well informed vantage point, an original method of making main stream cinema. On the director/composer commentary track for the film, he and the composer Joe Kraemer discussed how they decided not to use a music supervisor for this film, meaning that when it was edited together, the editors didn’t use a temporary soundtrack made up of music from other films, as what invariably occurs is a falling in love with the temporary soundtrack. This invariably results in the films composer being asked to create music which is like the music they’re already used to. Instead Kraemer had a blank canvas from which he could create whatever he liked. This decision lead to what is a very delicate and unusual score, a beautiful score which isn’t over blown or emotionally manipulative but rather seeps into the very fabric of the film and sounds unlike any score you’re ever likely to hear, and in that sense Kraemer’s score belongs to McQuarrie’s film. Experimentation should be rewarded in the mainstream, as The Way of the Gun is audacious from start to climax and it’s probably McQuarrie’s unique approach to his subject, character, style and finish which creates an original, memorable, violent, unpredictable, visceral film experience and one that you’re not likely to forget. M.Dawson |
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Following Mr. Parker played by Ryan Philippe and Mr Longbaugh played by Benicio Del Torro, a pair of multi-tasking professional criminals who kidnap the surrogate mother Robin played by Juliette Lewis who is heavily pregnant with the child of a money laundering criminal millionaire Hale Chidduck played by Scott Wilson, in order to obtain ransom money for the new born baby. A bag man Sarno, played by James Cann is sent to retrieve the baby and tie up the lose ends, meanwhile hired body guards/hit men Jeffers played by Taye Diggs and Obecks played by Nicky Katt try to get even with Parker and Longbaugh and hatch their own plan to steal the ransom money. This is the set-up and the film follows a complex game of cat and mouse, move and counter move until its final bloody conflict in a Mexican brothel. A the time of its release in 2000, Christopher McQuarrie’s first feature as director was dismissed by many critics. Empire magazine for example gave the film two stars, their reasons were as follows: 
This was McQuarrie’s debut, and in the eight years since, he’s not directed another film. Which is a shame, because not only is he a writing talent to be reckoned with but here he also shows great directorial potential. McQuarrie often leaves scenes to run on a single coverage, letting the sound design reveal what’s going on around the characters. On two separate occasions he remains fixed on characters as we hear but never see the police cars approaching them. In another instance McQuarrie leaves his coverage on Parker and Longbaugh as they overhear a man discussing the perils of surrogacy, the discussion is vital to the plot line but not only do we not hear the person on the other end of the phone, but we don’t see the man talking at all instead we are left with our protagonists reactions to what is being said. McQuarrie’s brother was a US Navy Seal and acted as technical advisor for the film which was a smart move on the director’s part, the way in which most of the professional characters handle their weaponry doesn’t fall into the glamourising trap as Hollywood productions frequently do. Rarely will a character be seen holding his finger on the trigger of his weapon, or holding a fire arm with one hand, although one handed gun play is perceived to look slicker, it is in fact far less accurate. The Way of the Gun is a very violent film, but despite what you may infer from the films title it never glamorises violence or guns but instead treats them for what they are - deadly weapons. The use of guns in this film when say compared to Michael Bay’s Bad Boys II for example really is quite startling. This sort of violence, the violence of truth should never be censored, the sort of pop corn antics Will Smith undertakes in the aforementioned action sequel only serves to perpetuate a false image of bullets and guns, violence and crime, and image which is as far from reality as possibly imaginable where innocent bystanders are never hit, and if the police crash into someone else’s car the occupant will always get away with only a scratch. This is a very worrying and dangerous portrayal as it desensitises and misleads audiences, where as The Way of the Gun is actually far more responsible film making because it’s more blood thirsty, because it’s more violent, Del Torro had this to say about the matter in an interview with The Guardian:
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