Intermission: Violent noir movie offers strong plot, dialogue

"The Way of the Gun"

Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Benicio Del Toro, James Caan and Juliette Lewis

Rated: R

Although "The Way of the Gun" is Christopher McQuarrie's debut as a director, he's no stranger to the Tarantino-influenced post-modern style of film noir.

McQuarrie won a much deserved Oscar for his brilliant screenplay for "The Usual Suspects," one of the best films of the decade.

Here, as screenwriter, he uses his strength for great dialogue and intricate plot twists and as a first-time director attempts to carve out his own visual style. "The Way of the Gun" is complex and ambitious with moments of dark humor and while not as good as "The Usual Suspects" it manages to succeed more often than it fails.

Ryan Phillippe and Benicio Del Toro star as Parker and Longbaugh (the real last names of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid) and the film opens with a bang, defining the characters from the start. After being yelled at for sitting on the hood of a guy's Mercedes, they punch out his mouthy girlfriend. Through Parker's voiceover we learn that the pair are destined to a life of petty crime and minimum wage. They sell their blood for $50 a pint, but end up at a local sperm bank that pays a lot more. While there Parker and Longbaugh hear about a young woman who's being paid $1 million to be the surrogate mother for a wealthy couple. What they fail to understand is just who these people are.

Imagine that Sam Peckinpah decided to remake "Raising Arizona," and you get the picture of the scene that follows. Our boys kidnap the very pregnant surrogate mother, Robin, played by Juliette Lewis, and hatch a plot to extort $15 million dollars from the parents-in-waiting. What they don't know is that the would-be dad, Hale Chidduck, makes his millions by laundering money for a number of big time crime syndicates. Chidduck has various and sundry thugs in his employ, including bodyguards for Robin, and a trusty old "bag man," Joe Sarno, played by James Caan with his usual aplomb. Also in the picture is a young doctor, in charge of making sure Robin's pregnancy goes off without a hitch.

As Parker, Longbaugh and Robin head off to hole up south of the border, the twists, turns and intricate relationships among everyone in Chidduck's camp begin to surface. These folks make Parker and Longbaugh look like the happy Von Trapp family from "The Sound of Music."

There are times in "The Way of the Gun" when you may not quite know who's doing what to whom, but much the same as with "The Usual Suspects" don't worry about it, just hang on for the ride. Any film that has a standoff reminiscent of the finale of "Reservoir Dogs" in its first 15 minutes is surely due for some sort of apocalyptic ending, and the shoot-out in Mexico at the end of "The Way of the Gun" is completely over the top. McQuarrie manages to throw in enough clever devices to keep it fresh .

McQuarrie also manages a seemingly impossible task: He puts a new twist on the car chase scenes that are mandatory for this type of film. Rather than the typical high speed, rough and tumble approach, the director turns his chase scene into a cunning and deliberate game of cat and mouse as Parker and Longbaugh make off with Robin in the first act. It's funny as well as tense and while somewhat unbelievable.

As in most noir pieces, there aren't really any "good" guys here, but in the end some sort of justice is served. "The Way of the Gun" may be too violent for some, but it's clever, well written and a promising debut from director Christopher McQuarrie. I suspect pieces of wry dialog such as, "Karma's only justice without the satisfaction; and I don't believe in justice," will stick with the viewer for a long time.

This film is playing at the Campbell 16 Cine and the Springfield 8.

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.)