The Way of the Gun

(Christopher McQuarrie, USA, 2000)

The success in Australia of Traffic (2000) enabled the belated releases of both The Limey (1999) and The Way of the Gun. The latter boasts a strong performance from Benicio Del Toro as Longbaugh, a smiling, amoral criminal who embarks on a spontaneous kidnapping in collaboration with his more aggro partner, Parker (Ryan Phillippe).

They pick the pregnant Robin (Juliette Lewis) as their hostage, blithely unaware that she is carrying a child that will be the property of the ruthless capitalist, Chidduck (Scott Wilson). Naturally, Longbaugh and Parker find themselves tracked by sleek, young killers in suits and a couple of old survivors, especially Sarno (James Caan).

The Way of the Gun arrives rather too late in the post-Tarantino cycle of foul-mouthed, ethically ambiguous, blackly comic tales of violence, redemption and fate. The actors (particularly De Toro and Caan) give it their best shot but, despite many amusing and exciting moments, it is hard to disguise the staleness of the formula.

Christopher McQuarrie, emerging as director after his early fame as writer of The Usual Suspects (1995), speaks of wanting to make the viewer "sympathise with bad people" – hardly a new or profound ambition. His more intriguing theme is the rather gory connection between the incessant bloodletting and the Gothic family drama of blood ties – capped off in the gruesome spectacle of Robin's caesarean delivery.

Furthering this theme, the film has one clever pattern of surprises: revelations concerning just which character is related to which. Parker's throwaway line – "you can tell somebody's family just by looking" – is the clue to a better movie lurking inside this one.

The frenetic climax in Mexico cannot but evoke memories for serious film buffs of Sam Peckinpah's classic, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974). The comparison is not flattering: McQuarrie's direction is, for the most part, flat and bare, neither effectively minimal nor operatically excessive. But his career will be worth watching.

© Adrian Martin May 2001