Review of Way of the Gun, The

Introduction

The Usual Suspects was a hard act to follow, one of the most acclaimed movies of the nineties, the film combined a knock-out script with a top-notch cast and is a film that remains just as popular today as it was when it was released.

The movie`s screenwriter, Christopher McQuarrie wrote Way of the Gun, which follows two criminals ( Ryan Phillippe and Benicio del Toro) in their quest for riches, and after deciding against giving blood and donating sperm as a quick route to making money, they decide to kidnap a surrogate mother (Juliet Lewis) and hold her to ransom. However, the pair don`t realised that she is carrying the child of a wealthy businessman with gangland connections and what originally seemed like a very good idea, soon becomes a nightmare, as the pair find that they are up against a very feisty enemy who is not interested in paying up.

Video

The video is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, and is of above average quality, with little in the way of dirt and grain, and a stable clear image. The picture has plenty of contrast and colour, and does not suffer from any compression problems.

As far as the visuals go, the film is well made, and offers plenty of action, including a fun car chase, and as the title suggests, plenty of shoot-outs, all of which are stylishly filmed. The filmmakers make good use of locations, which gives the movie an authentic feel.

Audio

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, and like the video, is above average. The subject matter lends itself to spectacular sound, and the sound engineers obviously had fun doing the sound effects for the shootouts, which feature endless numbers of bullets zipping around the room. Quite impressive at times.

There`s also a good score which is well reproduced, and throughout all the mayhem, the dialogue is always clear and understandable.

Features

Some of the extras from the Region 1 release of the movie didn`t make the journey across the Atlantic, but we are left with two commentary tracks, the first featuring the writer/director and composer, the second featuring a combination of isolated score and commentary. The main commentary track provides plenty of the usual background and trivia about the movie, and the second again features the composer.

Other extras include several interviews, biographies and the trailer.

The disc is packaged in an Amaray case, which contains an insert detailing the chapter breaks.

Conclusion

As I said at the start of the movie, The Usual Suspects was a hard act to follow and unfortunately Way of the Gun doesn`t reach anything like the same level.

The ingredients are all there - an interesting plot, a good cast and plenty of action, but the movie is strangely uninteresting, and even the frantic shootouts didn`t particularly excite me - everything on offer has been done more effectively elsewhere. Perhaps if the film had been a bit shorter, the increase in pace might have helped, but as it stands, I was rather disappointed.

The video and sound are both well presented, and there is a reasonable amount of extra material on the disc, however, the film itself is distinctly mediocre, and I would suggest that it is one to look out for in your local rental shop because the potential for repeat viewing is limited.