The Way of the Gun

Film noir gets ugly. In his terrific script for “The Usual Suspects,” Christopher McQuarrie wrote a great standoff scene set in a garage. During the course of a robbery, the protagonists stand at gunpoint with two bodyguards, an impasse that is resolved when Stephen Baldwin makes a spectacular double kill shot. Imagine taking that scene and expanding it to feature length, and you will have a pretty good idea of what you’re in for with “The Way of the Gun.” Unfortunately, what works for a two-minute scene does not necessarily work stretched out over two hours. One critical difference, of course, is that Bryan Singer (who directed the recent X-Men) directed the earlier script, but McQuarrie himself took the reins here, and the result is a disappointing and self-important drama about arms and the common thug. McQuarrie, whose directing is no match for his writing, stacks the deck against himself early on, with a pretentious voiceover narration that informs the viewer that we can call the protagonists only “Mr. Longbaugh” and “Mr. Parker.” Oh, I see. We’re supposed to give a hoot about these two yahoos when you won’t even tell us their names? Sounds like a miscalculation to me.

For all of their aspirations to philosophical insight, neither Longbaugh (Del Toro), Parker (Phillippe), nor, for that matter, McQuarrie himself, rises much above the level of Existentialism 101. The opening scene (kind of a prologue, really) seems promising enough, as Longbaugh and Parker confront an angry mob outside a nightclub. It looks like a good setup for a satisfying fight scene, but Longbaugh and Parker end up getting the tar beaten out of them in the ensuing melee, which isn’t exactly the outcome we might have expected for our heroes. I am not sure what McQuarrie had in mind here. If he intended to show that Longbaugh and Parker are somewhat dimwitted, and poor judges of their chances in a brawl, I suppose he did so.

But it is not clear how that helps us understand the characters, particularly since later in the picture they seem to acquire Terminator-like warrior skills. Confusing. The story really begins when our young crooks decide to raise some money by donating semen (a scene that apparently used up McQuarrie’s stock of humor, since there is precious little in the picture thereafter). At the sperm bank they stumble onto the fact that a woman named Robin (Lewis, delivering her usual white trash characterization) is acting as a surrogate mother for a wealthy couple named Chidduck. Longbaugh and Parker hatch a scheme to kidnap Robin and hold her for ransom. What they don’t count on is the relentless pursuit of Robin’s bodyguards Jeffers and Obecks (Diggs and Katt, both very convincing), not to mention the Darth Vader like powers of Chidduck’s bag man Sarno (Caan, in a performance that is far more imposing than the part itself). From that point on the movie is, for all intents and purposes, a long chase through Texas and Mexico, interrupted only long enough for the occasional gun battle or torture sequence, and of course some ponderous, pseudo-profound discussions amongst all of these very bad men. The picture grinds along with grim determination, leaving us rather numb in the process.

It is unrelievedly brutal, ugly in tone, and takes itself much too seriously to be a whole lot of fun for anyone. Granted, film noir is supposed to be dark (after all, it’s not film blanc), but that doesn’t mean that noirish films can’t give you a character to relate to, or one to act as a moral compass, or, at the very least, some comic relief. As it is, despite the strong screen presence of Del Toro (who was also in “The Usual Suspects,” and has real star power here), and, to a lesser extent, Phillippe, it is hard to care much about what happens to anyone in the picture (with the possible exception of Diggs’ Jeffers, who is effortlessly charismatic). I couldn’t even generate much enthusiasm for the moral question of who should get the baby. But I don’t feel too bad, since neither could any of the characters on screen. Although McQuarrie shows some promise as far as staging scenes (particularly action), and he may yet develop a good visual eye, “The Way of the Gun” is very much a freshman outing for him (no doubt his Oscar reward). His scripts can obviously benefit from the influence of a gifted director, a distinction which he himself has not yet earned. (9/12/2000)