Movie: The Way of the Gun. My take: It blew.

[George Hill]

Many many people call this flick a great gun movie.
There are two kinds of people in the world. Those that Loved it, and those that think it's a steaming pile of dung.
I'm the second type.
I just watched "The Way of the Gun". Hated it. The gunplay was clever and well done... but the story was void. Totally lacking.
I want my money back.
I put it up on the Ogre Movie list on good faith and the fact that I have seen a few parts in it that were admittedly clever... but the over all story totally sucked.
Hated this movie so very much.
That and it had that hag in it. I forget her name... she plays the pregnant girl in the show. I hate her. She sucks. No talent. And she is butt-ugly with a funny shaped face and head.
She seems to have suffered from both fetal alcohol syndrome and shaken baby syndrome. She has my sympathy, but she can get the heck off my TV.
And this Del Toro cat... he sucks too. He looks slimy to the core. Not just acting... but him personally. He's trying for the "young Tommy Lee Jones" vibe, but it's just not working. He just comes across as a creepy hole.
Hate this flick...
And James Caan? What is up with his neck? He's trying to do this tough guy roll, and he can't move is neck. His head is bolted in the straight forward position or something. Dude - go see a chiropractor for crying out loud! And while your at it - RETIRE. Talk about past expiration dates... Geeze.
This movie had potential... With some alternative casting it could have been much better. Taye Diggs was solid. Liked him... and the other guy... cool too. But everyone else was a loser.
What it really needed all the way through was some comedy. If it had some good smart comedy written in there, it could have been a winner.
Man, I HATED this movie!

 

[Schuey2002]

That and it had that hag in it. I forget her name... she plays the pregnant girl in the show. I hate her. She sucks. No talent. And she is butt-ugly with a funny shaped face and head.
She seems to have suffered from both fetal alcohol syndrome and shaken baby syndrome. She has my sympathy, but she can get the heck off my TV.

LOL!

I couldn't stop laughing when I read that..

 

[rebbryan]

 

[Triad]

I think too many people here have confused good gun handling with good film making. What can you really expect though? After decades of bad gun handling, when Hollywierd finally gets it right shooters are gonna go nuts over the movie.

 

[Dannyboy]

I thought I was the only one here who didn't like this movie. I don't feel so alone now. Thank you.

 

[Nightcrawler]

You gotta be in the mood for it. I have it on DVD, but I don't watch it much.

GOOD POINTS:

-Gun handling
-chase scene where they kidnap the girl
-gunfight at the house of ill repute
-THE OPENING SCENE. It's hillarious.

BAD POINTS:

-Just about everything in between, though some of the dialouge was pretty slick. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't, depends on the day. It's not for everybody.

 

[sm]

Like it or Not...There is one thing everybody comes away remembering.

NEVER Jump into a dry Fountain.

crunch

 

[NIGHTWATCH]

Name one (1) gun movie you enjoy George. Im curious.

 

[cratz2]

Man George... don't hold back! Tell us how you really feel about it.

I enjoy the movie. I've watched it a couple times and I will watch it again, I'm sure. I like how it looks and how it tries to be cool. I guess my gun side likes it enough. But... if I let my movie snob side take over, he says that it is pretty uneven. It alternates between a wannabe stark/minimalist movie and one that wants whitty exchanges ala Quentin Tarantino or Elmore Leonard. And what is the deal with those security guards? Everyone's a bad guy... and at some point a comment is made that the Scott Wilson character is supposed to be really crazy but it certainly doesn't come across. I guess it was just really uneven.

And I must admit, though Juliette Lewis is supposed to be one of the most desired females of my general generation (plus or minus 5 years or so) along with Winona Ryder and Drew Barrymore... she ain't no Winona or Drew. While I didn't think she detracted from The Way of The Gun, she made the remake of Cape Fear almost unwatchable and I'm not exactly sure why. I think she did a pretty good job in the excellent California... maybe because she was a bit more in her element.

 

[foghornl]

Nightwatch:

Mini-series I liked for gun handling/effects

Band of Brothers

Getting almost normal looking recoil when firing the Garands. But no one got the dreaded "M-1 Thumb".

 

[Kamicosmos]

It was the director's first film, which makes me like it that much more! Think about El Mariachi/Desperado. Those movies aren't very good either, but at least the dude is trying to work a bit outside the system and make his own movie. Same with McQuarrie and WotG here.

I do agree with you on one point: I really hate Juliette Lewis.
When I first saw the movie, I told my friends, they should have had the dudes just grab a newborn instead....the film literally would have been the same (or better) without her in it.

And, with a baby you could have had a bit of comedy, and a few over the top cheezy scenes ala Hard Boiled...

 

[BigG]

I thought the opening scene and Geoffrey Lewis' death scene were superb. The gun handling was good but the spray and pray was inconsistent with the restrained handling, especially the Galil after watching the guy put rounds on people at 200 yds with the HK93. Definitely mixed as far as gun play imho. Caan was really at the top of his game in my eyes. "$5,000,000. That's not money. That's a motive with a universal adapter."

 

[Bowlcut]

Oh i agree...the story sucked. So i try not to watch it for the story, just the action and few witty lines here and there . Then the movie is pretty good

 

[MK11]

I know how you feel. I liked "The Way of the Gun" but detested "Equilibrium" and the wretched, awful, couldn't-sit-through-20-minutes-of-it "Boondock Saints."

 

[Correia]

George! Put the crack pipe down my friend. No way, WOTG was awesome.

 

[Steve Smith]

George, tell us how your REALLY feel!

 

[George Hill]

Name one?
http://www.madogre.com/Ogre Movies.htm
I have many.
How about "A MAN APART"?

Or how about "Romeo & Juliet"? With the SWORD 9MM...
"DO YOU BITE YOUR THUMB AT ME, SIR?!" At least it had a story.

A GOOD gun movie isn't just about the guns, but it has to be a good movie too. QUIGLEY stands out as an example of this. So does HEAT, or THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS. Good stories, good film making... AND good gunfight scenes.

And while I am at it... I like good commentary on a DVD. The Equilibrium DVD had GREAT commentary. About the characters and all that... while RONIN had PATHETIC commentary. I don't car about how you cut transitions! I want to know more about the movie not how it was edited!

 

[Darrin]

I watched The Way of the Gun last night and here's my take:

• Great gun action (shotgun FTE, reloading frequently, lots of IWB holsters)
• Plot lacked quite a bit (I got the feel they recorded everything in a few days and spent a few months editing)
• Too much was edited. It's a 2 hour movie and very obvious serveral scenes were deleted/edited. The movie would have to be 3 hours long to make the plot a little smoother.
• "If I want to hit her, I hit her. I want to miss, I miss."

 

[BerettaNut92]

I didn't care much about WOTG's story, but I totally dug the tacticality...

That guy carries more 1911 mags than I did at gun skul.

 

[Don Gwinn]

At least it had a story.

Well, yeah. Of COURSE it had a story! They lifted the plot of a dead guy's play practically word for word! Kinda hard not to make a film with a great story if you just steal your plot, characters and dialogue whole cloth from one of the greatest writers in Western Civilization.

If Way of the Gun had just been a remake of Macbeth, it would have had a brilliant plot, too. Writing a good story is slightly harder, of course, than stealing one.

(I love Romeo and Juliet too, by the way.

Sorry, George. I read this on Ogre, and it didn't rise to the level of email, but you're killing me with this penny-ante stuff. You don't like Juliette Lewis? Well, who does? She wasn't very good, but it was worth keeping her on just to keep Geoffrey Lewis happy, buddy, because he was brilliant.

Del Toro is too creepy? Really? Did you pan The Silence of the Lambs because Hopkins played Hannibal Lecter "too creepy?" He's supposed to be creepy. He's an absolutely amoral criminal who would do anything--anything for money. The whole point of the film is that these two don't want or expect any sympathy or empathy. They're bad, horrible, awful people. How can the amoral, awful, horrible bad guy who tortures, kidnaps, and murders be too creepy?

And James Caan? Are you kidding me? Caan was absolutely great. Sarno is supposed to be old, decrepit, and beaten up. That's what all that dialogue about "old man," "pre-war cop jargon" and "survivors" was about. Sarno's neck (not Caan's) is all messed up. He doesn't walk very well, and he pops pain medication constantly (it's easy to miss because he does it so casually, as if it were totally routine for Sarno.) As he tells the moron from "Boston Public:"

"Let me give you some advice, little fella. The only thing you can be sure of in this business, when you see a broken-down old man like me, is that he's a survivor."


There were clumsy times, yes, but this was a very good film without the gun handling. Add the fact that they tried to get that right, and it becomes great, at least if you're a gun nut.

 

[George Hill]

You forgot Richard III.
That was a fantastic Shakespear adaptation to WWII (You can kind of say that).

WOTG's story was completely lacking. The reason for kidnapping the girl was glossed over so fast you missed it if you blinked. The whole thing was weak.

Sorry, but good gun handling can't replace a good story.

 

[George Hill]

And movies with the villan as the hero... these have to be done very carefully.
WOTG didn't pull it off. Just like Mel Gibson's "Pay Back". You had no connection to the character because he was so morally void. The whole premis of Pay Back was simple revenge... and as much as that movie sucked, it at least stands above WOTG because at least you can understand revenge.

"Old cop jargon"
Was that suppesed to give me deep insight into this old and busted charater? Or that he had a friend he could call for some help? The friend playing around at shooting himself? There was Zero character development for about everyone but the stupid wretched girl. And of course, all we learn about her is the depth of her stupidity.

I supposed LOTR ripped of some old dead english guy's book too.

I think hollywood screen writers are the lowest form of creative writing. I'd rather read the poetry of a Jr High School girl than a screen play from anyone in hollywood. Notice how the best movies are stories by real writers? Sure a screen writer hacks them up... but at least the core story and depth is there.

Don't get me started on Starship Troopers. HOW ON EARTH CAN YOU SCREW UP THE BEST SCI FI BOOK EVER?!?!?!

Ogre's theory on Movies: If a gun is the center peice of the movie cover - the movie is going to suck. Factor in with this the Big Orange Fireball back ground. The % of Gun or Fireball is directly proportional to the amount of suckage in the movie. Same thing for cheesy over paid actors... the closer the faces are together - the more the movie sucks. Examples of this theory:
KUFFS.
I rest my case.

 

[themic]

starship troopers is a well disguised commentary on nazi germany. i think that's where it deviates from the book, which admittedly i haven't read.

Last Man Standing. Fun, fun, gunplay. Bad Movie. Might get it on DVD anyways.

 

[longeyes]

It's a mediocre movie with some good "gun stuff." But so is Last Man Standing, in my opinion. Now there are movies that are both good films and great "gun films:" The Wild Bunch is a classic example of that. Ditto Heat.

Juliette Lewis is a bit strange-looking, I concede, but that's part of her charm. Asymmetry can be very cool. I think she has a certain quirky spontaneity that's engaging. Now to me Benicio del Toro is Brad Pitt after a month of heavy partying. (That doesn't stop him from being a good actor.)

 

[longeyes]

I liked the use of guns in Ghost Dog and Amores Perros. Not fetishistic, but you see guys actually cleaning their guns as well as shooting them.