Taste the Anticipation - The Way of the Gun (2000)

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

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

Country: United States

Rating: R

Run Time: 119 minutes

Taste the Anticipation is a series dedicated to reviewing films in anticipation of a newer up and coming release. Whether it a previous franchise installment, a forgotten film within a director's immense oveure, or a thematically similar venture, anything is fair game as long as it relates to a newer cinematic product of sorts that I am anticipating.

I remember stumbling upon several movies in high school that led to me becoming a certified "cinephile." John Woo's Hard Boiled, Christopher Nolan's Memento, and Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver are a few of the films that changed my cinematic viewing life. However, there was a single scene from a film that I stumbled upon on YouTube at the time that also had a lasting impact on me. It was the final shootout from The Way of the Gun. Even though I had not seen the film, the final shootout blew my mind with its hard hitting gun shots, smooth editing, and impeccable bad-assery. 

Much like the entirety of Woo's Hard Boiled, this single scene would come to define the type of action that gets my blood pumping. I eventually bought the film, watched it, and walked away very disappointed. The entire film disappointed me so much that I fast forwarded to the final gun fight that I loved so much and called it a day. And after all of these years, I have kept that DVD and haven't revisited it...

...until now! Director and screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie has since hit it big with the criminally underrated Jack Reacher. Now that McQuarrie has found his new cinematic partner in Tom Cruise (McQuarrie wrote this year's Edge of Tomorrow and is set to direct Mission: Impossible 5), I thought that it would be interesting to revisit his debut feature in order to see how well it holds up given McQuarrie's recent success and to see if that final shootout still blows my mind like it used too. Oh, and I'd also give the entire film a chance this time now that I'm older and more mature.

Mexican Standoff: The Movie

Parker (Ryan Phillippe) and Longbaugh (Benicio Del Toro) are two drifters without jobs or a home. Therefore, the two wander from city to city doing odd jobs in order to make ends meet. While at a sperm donation bank, the two over hear a doctor speak about a pregnant woman who is constantly guarded by body guards. Figuring that the woman's guards consider her valuable and would pay big money for her safety, the two decide to kidnap her. After successfully kidnapping Robin (Juliette Lewis), the two make off to a hotel in Mexico and make a deal for their ransom money. However, the two underestimate the gravity of the situation when they learn that Robin is a surrogate mother for two rich millionaires who have power and connections. Parker and Longbaugh find themselves in over their heads as they have to contend with bodyguards Jeffers (Taye Diggs), Obecks (Nicky Katt), and an experienced bag man named Joe Sarno (James Caan).

I'm surprised I was able to sum up the plot as best as I did just now because The Way of the Gun has far too many twists, turns, and characters to cover. It's no surprise that The Way of the Gun goes for twists and dramatic revelations, much like McQuarrie's Oscar winner The Usual Suspects. However, The Usual Suspects succeeds with its twist ending because it saves all of its twists for the very end. The Way of the Gun on the other hand constantly bombards the viewer with twist after twist and dramatic revelation after dramatic revelation through the entire film. This becomes quite exhausting as the status quo constantly changes, therefore never making you feel like you know what is going on (especially during the second act that kills the film).

The Way of the Gun reminds me of another flawed action film from 2000, John Woo's Mission: Impossible 2. It's astonishing how similar my opinion is of these films. Both films have incredibly clunky plots, countless twists, near sleep inducing second acts, but amazing bad ass action sequences. It's a shame that action scenes of their caliber don't have a great film to go with them.

The graphic on the DVD uses this shot with the hole in the middle. How clever.

The opening scene alone is so bad that it still nearly scares me away from the rest of the film. As Parker and Longbaugh collect money from a bar, the two sit on a man's car and piss off his girlfriend played by comedian Sarah Silverman. Silverman than proceeds to spout ridiculous expletives like "Do you like to f*** babys in the head?" and "You d*** sucking f*****!" A fist fight quickly ensues as more expletives are exchanged between the characters. This attempt at humorous foul language is downright amateurish. It's as if McQuarrie saw Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction and thought that he could write a script filled with foul language. Leave it to Tarantino, Chris. He does it better.

The second act of the film is really where everything falls apart. While the first act focuses on Parker and Longbaugh, the two are quickly edited out of the second act in favor of all of the other characters playing their own angles. You've got the two bodyguards who want the money, the husband and wife who want the child, the wife and one of the bodyguards who also want the child, the doctor and the surrogate mother who also want the child, the bagman who wants to do the right thing and also wants the money, and than Parker and Longbaugh who also want the money. There are so many different relationships to keep up with you that you better pay attention during the second act of the film.

My issue with this film is that the protagonists become supporting characters in their own movie as soon as they kidnap Robin. Once they hole up in a motel in Mexico, the focus shifts from them to all of the other characters. I think this is a mistake on McQuarrie's part because he shouldn't take the focus off of the characters who narrated us into this world in the first place. This alienates the viewer and confuses us as to whether or not this is an ensemble piece or a film focused on two drifters. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and Machete are two recent films that make this error of turning the protagonist into a character with as much screen time as every other character. Some people may disagree with my opinion on this but it's a huge movie pet peeve of mine. Sound off in the comments if you think different.

Del Toro wins the bad ass award with his gun handling skills.

However, The Way of the Gun does a lot right to make up for its clunky plot. The two stand out actors of the film are Benicio Del Toro (The Hunted, Savages) and James Caan (Thief, The Godfather), basically playing a younger and older version of one another. Parker is a middle aged criminal who has a lot left to go through while Sarno is an aged bag man who has been through it all and knows how to handle a situation like a kidnapping. The two have a great scene where they get a drink together and talk about their lives. It's sort of an honor amongst gun men scene before all of the violence goes down later on. I love this dynamic and found the relationship between these two characters to be grander and more affective than any other relationship in the entire film. 

Del Toro is an acclaimed Academy Award winning actor and international star normally known for his dramatic work in films like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Traffic, and Che. It's a shame that Del Toro mainly does dramatic work because he always leaves a great presence in the few action films that he does. He is a certified bad ass in this film. He comes off best when firing a gun, staring with his squinted eyes, or whispering in that soft voice of his. Del Toro's whispered lines come off better than Steven Seagal's infamous low volume dialog. I'm sure that Seagalogists will gun me down for saying that but hey, I said it. Unfortunately, I can't really sing the same praise for the other actors in this film. Everyone else is pretty forgetful and flat in contrast to Del Toro and Caan's natural badassery.

McQuarrie nails the neo-western tone and visuals in this film. Every image in the final two thirds of the film takes place in Mexico, a very western looking environment. Therefore, McQuarrie populates his film with tumbleweeds, bars, and yellow desert sand. The final 30 minutes of action takes place entirely inside of a western brothel that easily could have housed any shootout from the early 1900's. McQuarrie clearly knew what kind of setting would strengthen his film's western proceedings. The Way of the Gun also benefits from an incredible score by composer Joe Kraemer. There is an excellent tune that underscores several dramatic scenes in the film. This piece of music alone gets my blood pumping and my heart racing. If you can't get enough of this one musical theme, it plays all throughout the film.

A prize that puts Connor MacCleoud's psychic abilities from Highlander to shame.

Yet for all of the film's clunkiness, I can honestly say that the action scenes are of the absolute highest caliber in terms of editing, sound design, photography, and choreography. I'm dead serious. This film has some of the greatest sound design in all of action cinema, and that includes masterpieces like Hard Boiled, RoboCop, The Terminator, Dirty Harry, and For a Few Dollars More. You truly feel every gun shot's magnitude and power during the action scenes. For all of the criticisms I have with this film, I pay the action scenes the highest compliment that I can bestow upon an action film. They are that damn good.

And while the first and second shootouts are great on their own, it is the final 30 minutes of action that still blows my mind to this day. The big final gunfight in the brothel's courtyard is one of the greatest action scenes in cinema history. Parker and Longbaugh sit in a bar and stare out at bags of money sitting in the middle of the courtyard. The two know that Sarno and his men are out there waiting for them to jump on the money. What follows is one of the finest gun fights in cinema history as the two take on many in the powerhouse gun fight of the century. Every single shot, edit, and cut is effective. I think this is quite honestly one of the most perfectly edited action scenes in movie history. My words cannot do this scene justice.

Unfortunately, McQuarrie has to go and screw up this amazing action scene by ending his film in a very displeasing manner. I can't wrap my head around this ending. It sits so uneasy with me and never feels appropriate to me. I've never felt pleased by it and to this day still think it is an unfair way to end the film considering how the two protagonists had just morally redeemed themselves before the big gun fight.

The damn best gunfight this side of the 2000's.

I wish that The Way of the Gun came together in a perfect two hours of action, character, and story. But alas, we can't all get what we want. McQuarrie has since gone on to craft better films (i.e. Jack Reacher) with better characters, stories, and plot twists that sit right and make sense. However, I highly doubt that McQuarrie will ever shoot an action scene as good as the final gunfight in The Way of the Gun. And even though this film's unevenness frustrates me, it is those moments of gun fire that reminds me why I love action films so much. But even those great gunfights can't make up for the countless plot twists and clunky storytelling. Still, this is a good start to hopefully a lengthy career of action filmmaking from Christopher McQuarrie. Highly recommended despite the film's flaws.

Rating: 6/10 - A disappointing neo-western that reaches the highest of highs and the lowest of lows all in one film. 

The Hunted (2003) - Review

Director: William Friedkin
Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Tommy Lee Jones, and Connie Nielsen
Country: U.S.

Note: As of Oct. 2013, the review format changed. Some reviews, like this one, feature the old format.

Short and Sweet:
Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro face off in this okay action thriller that feels like a mix between First Blood, The Fugitive, and Apocalypse Now.

Screening Source:
I viewed Paramount's Region 1 DVD copy of the film. It could use a Blu Ray upgrade. Either that or the film's particularly bland photography makes it look like it has low quality imagery.

Plot:
The Hunted has a basic action movie plot. Aaron Hallam (del Toro) is a Special Forces guy who witnesses horrible stuff while on an assassination mission in a foreign country. He than comes back home, snaps, and starts killing people in the woods. The police ask for the help of expert tracker and resident badass L.T. (Jones) to hunt down Aaron and stop him. It's as simple as that. Another cool aspect of the plot is that L.T. trained Aaron long ago during their stay in the military. I love this type of plot cliche. The film deals with the whole mentor/apprentice set up quite well. Overall, Friedkin's actioner doesn't demand much from its viewers. It has a basic plot with no real twists or turns. Just a set up for drama, action, and suspense.

"I'm the better Oscar winner!"

Notable Performances:
Benicio Del Toro is Aaron Hallam - I feel very conflicted about this role. Del Toro looks the part so much and handles the physicality of it perfectly. But when it comes to extensive dialog scenes, I feel that he really hams up this tortured soul kind of character. I really don't feel bad for this guy at all. I know we are supposed to, but a mere 90 minutes of this stuff and all I see is a crazy guy who needs to be stopped. I will say that Del Toro does a great job during the final knife fight. His portrayal of the action choreography is very impressive and its clear that he trained very hard for this scene.

Tommy Lee Jones is L.T. Bonham - Tommy Lee Jones walks into a bar and asks whose hunting snare he has. When a guy replies, Jones wraps the snare around the guy's neck and smashes his face into a table! So badass! Besides that, Jones is your typical underplayed action protagonist. Jones is natural in every role of his. There is seriously nothing wrong going on in this performance. In fact, I would say that Jones is the saving grace of this film and the main reason to view the film at all. It's really cool to see him in an action role as well.

"Hey man, what are the chances we'll survive this movie?"

The Rundown:
Since I'm so conflicted about this film, I'll start with the pros and than finish up with the cons. This film is rated R, thank goodness. I can honestly say that this film's R rating is one of its biggest saving graces. The film's brutal knife scenes would be dead in the water if graphic cuts and blood weren't inserted. I'm not certain how I feel about the framing of the action scenes, but it could be worse. I do feel the editing at least does a good job of showing you every little detail in each character's knife fight choreography.

But this film does not quite hit its mark. For one, this film is only 90 minutes long. I am all for short action films every now and then. Taken is a great 90 minute actioner packed with enough drama and badassery in its small run time. This film is one of the few occasions in which I think that the film should actually be longer. Everything happens too quickly. The events need to be more drawn out as well.

Better yet, the film needs a completely different visual style and tone. When I see this film, I feel that it should mirror the tone of other bleak films that lament on violence like The Proposition or The Road. Those films are deep character studies with slow and meditative paces. They pack the violence but have lots of meaning behind each and every scene. The Hunted on the other hand just flies through things and feels dead in the water during every single scene of drama. It's all so bland and generic, I don't feel for anything in this movie. This movie just needed a different director than William Friedkin.

However, the film's worst offense is its score. Oh my gosh. This is one of the worst film scores I have ever heard. Everything about it is so generic and cookie cutter. It feels like a stock score on an Apple Computer's editing program. The sound design is all around lousy as well. All of these issues with the film's background noise took me out of every scene. This soundtrack should never be released. It should be burnt and than permanently deleted.

"Man, this movie is just like The Fugitive."

Action:
Opening Massacre - It's tough to call this one an action scene but I think it is one. Del Toro has to sneak through a battle as explosions and soldiers run all around him. He does not take part in any action himself, but his squad mates fire a few rounds at soldiers pouring out of a building. This scene is extremely violent and disturbing as well. This whole sequence was clearly the set up for why Aaron snaps and goes crazy. If any of the drama and emotion in this film is affective, I would say this is the only scene that works really well.

Jones vs. Del Toro, Round 1 - Jones and Del Toro have a small but sweet skirmish. It's more of an animalistic brawl, but features a nice amount of hand to hand combat.

Jones vs. Del Toro, Round 2 - So this isn't really a fight. Instead, Jones chases Del Toro through the streets of what I recall as New York. The chase leads them through a park, the sewers, and eventually onto a subway train. This scene isn't really all that intense unfortunately. Its sheer length and ridiculousness make it the film's biggest and most impressive set piece though. I love the moment when Del Toro holds a knife to a passenger's neck and Jones yells, "This is between you and me!" Love those kind of moments.

Jones vs. Del Toro, Round 3 - The final fight that we all know is coming lands. And it sure is a good one. The two duke it out on the rocks right near a very loud waterfall. I really like how the waterfall is the dominant sound during this entire sequence. But yes, it is also a great knife fight. Jones gets cut up really bad during this. It gets quite intense. If I had to make a list of the 20 greatest knife fights I have ever seen, this would make it on there somewhere.

Spoiler Alert: There is hunting in this film.

Conclusion:
The Hunted is an alright action thriller. Tommy Lee Jones, the film's final action sequence, and its graphic R rating are what make the film worth watching. Jones is so natural in his role I just can't get enough of him. Unfortunately, the film's awkward pace, generic score, and lack of a distinct style give this film a very uneven feel. The film is a few notches short of being a basic and standout action flick along the lines of The Replacement Killers, Mission Impossible, or Rumble in the Bronx. What is there though is not horrible. I would recommend this film to only the most die hard action fans. Other viewers will walk away feeling quite bored and empty handed. But us action junkies will appreciate good knife fights and a badass Tommy Lee Jones any day.

Rating: 6/10 - A disappointing action film that makes up for its flaws with Jones' performance, its lush forest settings, and gritty fight sequences. Think of it like a combination between First Blood and The Fugitive but nowhere near as good.