The Way of the Gun

Christopher McQuarrie made his screenwriting bones with Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects (1995), a twisty thriller that proved a surprise hit. McQuarrie's subsequent career mixed some good efforts (Valkyrie) with some wretched ones (The Tourist). His sole directoral effort remains The Way of the Gun (2000), an overachieving B movie that amounts to very little.

Sad sack crooks Parker (Ryan Phillipe) and Longbaugh (Benicio Del Toro) (get it?) overhear something at a sperm bank (!) that gets their minds turning. Turns out a rich businessman (Scott Wilson) is having a child by surrogate mother Robin (Juliette Lewis), and the duo kidnap her in a blaze of gunfire for an outrageous ransom. A convoluted chase occurs, with Wilson's goons (Taye Diggs and Nicky Katt) and freelance "bagman" Joe Sarno (James Caan) on Parker and Longbaugh's trail, each with motivations of their own.

The Way of the Gun's interesting story lay smothered under self-indulgent, faux-Tarantino excess. For a movie with so much dialogue and exposition its characters are surprisingly thin, and the endless complications and double-crosses quickly grow tedious. Characters putter around scheming and chatting, occasionally shooting someone, frequently forgetting why they're doing it. It doesn't help that they speak in obnoxious, phony "hardboiled" dialogue, sounding like brain-damaged noir characters. Pulp Fiction's dialogue isn't realistic but it certainly has style and verve. McQuarrie's is no more clever nor believable than his overwrought plotting.

McQuarrie's pedestrian direction doesn't help. His staging and camera work is competent, but his work lacks style or the craft's finer elements. Scenes go on long after the point ended and the pace moves at a deadening crawl. The climactic shootout is lots of fun, mixing bloody excitement with grim humor (Parker gets a nasty surprise at one point), even if it makes little sense. Joe Kraemer's score is oddly reminiscent of Maurice Jarre, borrowing a percussion line from Lawrence of Arabia and the rattling castinets of The Professionals.

Benicio Del Torro and Ryan Phillipe do a good job acting dour and world-weary which is all the script requires. James Caan's character isn't fully realized; his big reveal is sublimated and has little impact on the story. The supporting cast fares better: Juliette Lewis does the best work, making a really ridiculous character believable. Taye Diggs (Rent) steals his scenes as a coolly professional bagman with his own motivation. Old pros Scott Wilson (In Cold Blood) and Geoffrey Lewis (The Wind and the Lion) land solid supporting roles. Sarah Silverman is an obnoxious bitch who gets punched in the face.

The Way of the Gun is a convoluted mess that defines trying too hard. It has a good cast and the finale is excellent, but the road getting there is hardly worth the effort.