"The Way of the Gun" to some people may just be an action piece puddled up by drama and really REAL issues like Redemption, Consequences, Trust and the differences between Bad and evil. I think it may be the purest form of a perfect action drama.
McQ makes the world its set even more realistic by making you quite unsure who the good guys are...in actuality there really aren't any...everyone here has done something unscrupulous at one time or another...the only ones who have embraced their "bad" are the two characters we follow: Parker and Longbaugh(brilliantly remade characters based on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).
McQ makes us see the story through their eyes(Mainly Parkers played by Ryan Phillippe) They are both Butch and Sundance in a more real underplayed way.
But they don't fool themselves about who they are and trick you into believing they are someone else(Good or holsom). They are the perfect guides into this world of shadiness, lies on top of lies and secrets. Lucus used the same technique in Star Wars A New Hope by having a story take place through the eyes of two inconsequential characters(R2 D2 and C3PO). A trick he picked up from the great Akira Kirowsawa.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
The story of a woman becoming a surrogate mother for money to help out her aging criminal father(THE BAGMAN) and in turn finding love from the son of the very same man paying her is like...whew! It could be easily told through the eyes of the daughter or the doctor(Who McQ has said is the real hero of the story). But we see it through Benicio and Ryan. And its great.
Their chemistry is terrific. Their almost secret way of communication through glances, cryptic phrases and extreme situational teaching(Mainly Longbaugh teaching Parker never to trust anybody by setting Parker up to get killed a couple times:GUN IN DOCTOR PAINTER'S BAG & SHOTGUN IN THE HOTEL ROOM) They know each other so well they don't even have to say anything. That comes across on screen.
Benicio Del Torro owns his role and plays it so low key. There are scenes where he says nothing at all and conveys any and every emotion. This is one of Phillipe's better films, a best personally seeing as I wasn't a fan before this. After which case I was on a soap box shouting that he would have been great as Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels. James Caan is....James Caan...in a role I think must have been written for him...cool aging badass. Taye Diggs...though I hate him...is great in the film because this is one of the only times he doesn't play "Taye Diggs". He turns his warm sex symbol persona on its ear by playing a man of real menace in apathy.
And for those who have read long enough about me droning on about this films hidden dramatic elements...the action scenes are great. Some of the most realistic gunfights I have ever scene. Actors were all Navy Seal trained and took it almost too seriously.(Listen to the DVD commentary when McQ talks about Taye Diggs persistent on how he run down an alley with a shotgun in the correct hand or how the actors never put their finger on the trigger unless they were shooting.) The final gun battle goes down for me as one the greatest of all time set eerily in similar surroundings as "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" I dare you to find a better shoot out.
McQ and a Mr Tarantino fella are how got into writing. And McQ has some of the funniest and cool-as-hell one liners in this flick. Almost better than his previous film Usual Suspects. Watch The Way of the Gun and you will truly be seeing a hidden masterpiece.
McQ makes the world its set even more realistic by making you quite unsure who the good guys are...in actuality there really aren't any...everyone here has done something unscrupulous at one time or another...the only ones who have embraced their "bad" are the two characters we follow: Parker and Longbaugh(brilliantly remade characters based on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).
McQ makes us see the story through their eyes(Mainly Parkers played by Ryan Phillippe) They are both Butch and Sundance in a more real underplayed way.
But they don't fool themselves about who they are and trick you into believing they are someone else(Good or holsom). They are the perfect guides into this world of shadiness, lies on top of lies and secrets. Lucus used the same technique in Star Wars A New Hope by having a story take place through the eyes of two inconsequential characters(R2 D2 and C3PO). A trick he picked up from the great Akira Kirowsawa.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
The story of a woman becoming a surrogate mother for money to help out her aging criminal father(THE BAGMAN) and in turn finding love from the son of the very same man paying her is like...whew! It could be easily told through the eyes of the daughter or the doctor(Who McQ has said is the real hero of the story). But we see it through Benicio and Ryan. And its great.
Their chemistry is terrific. Their almost secret way of communication through glances, cryptic phrases and extreme situational teaching(Mainly Longbaugh teaching Parker never to trust anybody by setting Parker up to get killed a couple times:GUN IN DOCTOR PAINTER'S BAG & SHOTGUN IN THE HOTEL ROOM) They know each other so well they don't even have to say anything. That comes across on screen.
Benicio Del Torro owns his role and plays it so low key. There are scenes where he says nothing at all and conveys any and every emotion. This is one of Phillipe's better films, a best personally seeing as I wasn't a fan before this. After which case I was on a soap box shouting that he would have been great as Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels. James Caan is....James Caan...in a role I think must have been written for him...cool aging badass. Taye Diggs...though I hate him...is great in the film because this is one of the only times he doesn't play "Taye Diggs". He turns his warm sex symbol persona on its ear by playing a man of real menace in apathy.
And for those who have read long enough about me droning on about this films hidden dramatic elements...the action scenes are great. Some of the most realistic gunfights I have ever scene. Actors were all Navy Seal trained and took it almost too seriously.(Listen to the DVD commentary when McQ talks about Taye Diggs persistent on how he run down an alley with a shotgun in the correct hand or how the actors never put their finger on the trigger unless they were shooting.) The final gun battle goes down for me as one the greatest of all time set eerily in similar surroundings as "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" I dare you to find a better shoot out.
McQ and a Mr Tarantino fella are how got into writing. And McQ has some of the funniest and cool-as-hell one liners in this flick. Almost better than his previous film Usual Suspects. Watch The Way of the Gun and you will truly be seeing a hidden masterpiece.