'Way of the Gun' comes to us with what should be a winning pedigree; Director and Writer Christopher McQuarrie collaborated with Bryan Singer on the writing of 'Usual Suspects'; Dick Pope, cinematographer, who worked on such gems as 'Debt Collector', 'Secrets and Lies' and 'Naked'; and Stephen Semel, film editor on such great past works as '187'.
It is perplexing then as to why this movie ended up being such a jumbled mess.
The basic story concerns to career criminals (Del Toro and Philippe), who while donating sperm at the local bank, stumble across an opportunity to kidnap a gal acting as a surrogate mother (Juliette Lewis) to local bad dude Chidduck (Scott Wilson).
Once the kidnap takes place, Chidduck calls in local 'fix-it' man Joe Sarno (James Caan) to get the as yet unborn baby back safe and sound.
Keeping this man a secret from his son Dr Allen Painter (Dylan Kussman), the good medic is also sent into the fray to deliver the baby and return it safely.
And so begins the muddled mess that forms the film. The film has an unfortunate tendency to lurch from one scene and location to another; there is no overall fluidity to it; despite the fact it is trying to emulate other films such as 'Desperado' and 'Reservoir Dogs'. 'Way of the Gun' just doesn't pull it off.
Phillippe and DelToro are good enough leads mostly; Philippe particularly as he plays against type as a hardened criminal. The two characters and actors have an obvious chemistry; it only takes one look or nod and they are in perfect synch. Which is probably a good thing, as they are often involved in scenes of protracted gun play - usually with the two mother-to-be's bodyguards (Taye Diggs and Nicky Katt). The almost balletic dance the two criminals perform on numerous occasions enable them to cover each others backs in the face of overwhelming odds.
As can often happen with Writer/Director combinations, screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie has allowed the script to become littered with an over abundance of snappy phrases and soundbites. All the characters seem to come up with numerous lines that would not look out of place on the movie's poster.
Overall I personally became a bit jaded by the constant gun play that seemed to serve no purpose other than to use lots of blood packs and show various gruesome injuries inflicted. The films score by Joe Kraemer is all-pervasive and is often very intruding on what should be relatively quiet scenes. Del Toro does the same sort of stuff he has done for his past 10 films and offers nothing new here.
See it for the gun play, just don't try and make too much sense of its supposed twists and turns.
4 out of 10.
It is perplexing then as to why this movie ended up being such a jumbled mess.
The basic story concerns to career criminals (Del Toro and Philippe), who while donating sperm at the local bank, stumble across an opportunity to kidnap a gal acting as a surrogate mother (Juliette Lewis) to local bad dude Chidduck (Scott Wilson).
Once the kidnap takes place, Chidduck calls in local 'fix-it' man Joe Sarno (James Caan) to get the as yet unborn baby back safe and sound.
Keeping this man a secret from his son Dr Allen Painter (Dylan Kussman), the good medic is also sent into the fray to deliver the baby and return it safely.
And so begins the muddled mess that forms the film. The film has an unfortunate tendency to lurch from one scene and location to another; there is no overall fluidity to it; despite the fact it is trying to emulate other films such as 'Desperado' and 'Reservoir Dogs'. 'Way of the Gun' just doesn't pull it off.
Phillippe and DelToro are good enough leads mostly; Philippe particularly as he plays against type as a hardened criminal. The two characters and actors have an obvious chemistry; it only takes one look or nod and they are in perfect synch. Which is probably a good thing, as they are often involved in scenes of protracted gun play - usually with the two mother-to-be's bodyguards (Taye Diggs and Nicky Katt). The almost balletic dance the two criminals perform on numerous occasions enable them to cover each others backs in the face of overwhelming odds.
As can often happen with Writer/Director combinations, screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie has allowed the script to become littered with an over abundance of snappy phrases and soundbites. All the characters seem to come up with numerous lines that would not look out of place on the movie's poster.
Overall I personally became a bit jaded by the constant gun play that seemed to serve no purpose other than to use lots of blood packs and show various gruesome injuries inflicted. The films score by Joe Kraemer is all-pervasive and is often very intruding on what should be relatively quiet scenes. Del Toro does the same sort of stuff he has done for his past 10 films and offers nothing new here.
See it for the gun play, just don't try and make too much sense of its supposed twists and turns.
4 out of 10.