The Way Of The Gun (2000)
a review by Evan Landon
“For the record, I'll call myself Mr. Parker. My associate will be Mr. Longbaugh. . .”
- Parker (The Way of the Gun, 2000)
To be completely honest with you, I am not entirely sure how many times I have watched this movie, so let's just say my review is going to hinge on how much I fucking love it. Thats fine, right?
It truly is a difficult task to tell you how great The Way of the Gun is without giving up the ghost in this review. The fact is, The Way of the Gun is a time capsule within itself, and there is a certain reverence to pay homage to. In order to really explain it all in full detail would beggar logic, so let us get past pleasantries the same way this one does. .
Within the first 20 minutes of this film, we are introduced to our main characters, Parker & Longbaugh, who do not just smack the fuck out of Sarah Silverman in the very first scene, but also get the shit kicked out of them for it. Then, we are brought elegantly to our plot where these two sociopaths overhear that a young lady is a surrogate mother for a perfectly capable couple who cannot be bothered to carry it, so they do the most logical thing in this movie and kidnap her. What ensues is a cat-and-mouse game from southern California into Mexico while our two protagonists attempt to succeed in their hair-brained scheme against insurmountable odds with some of the greatest, unheralded tactical gunplay scenes I have ever witnessed.
Writer Christopher McQuarrie shines in his directorial debut after his beloved screenplay, The Usual Suspects, made him a household name. He would go on to write and direct a good number of Tom Cruise films, including Valkyrie, Jack Reacher, Edge of Tomorrow, The Mummy, Top Gun; Maverick, & the last four Mission: Impossible movies.
Some lines are so memorable that I will just leave a few right here:
“There is always free cheese in a mousetrap. .”
“Karma is justice without the satisfaction, & I don't believe in justice.”
“ A woman needs security like a man needs approval.”
“We're not talking about how long you're going to live, hun. It's how slow you're gonna die.”
“A heart is the only thing of value. If you have one, get rid of it.”
As deeper meditations of old age, James Caan and Geoffrey Lewis are able to depict the maturing “bag men” insanely well, as they are the main characters in a subplot that coalesces seamlessly with all of the others, and there are a few! I would be remiss if I did not mention Taye Diggs (in maybe my favorite of any of his many parts) and the late, great Nicky Katt (R.I.P) as Juliette Lewis's bodyguards with their own intentions in mind.
The Colt 1911 is heavily featured, so if'n ya love a good armory, fuck yeah, it's there! There are plenty of other guns, so if'n you are squeamish with that, maybe it is better not to watch a movie called The Way of the Gun, but yknow. . It's your life. Watch whatevs.
This is just a fantastic movie that never gets old for me and never gets talked about enough. My only tiny, little gripe is that it drags a lot in the middle, but that is done on purpose to flush out the multi-layered characters that populate this tense underworld. That's it though. Definitely watch this one, if you have not yet. If you have, fuck it. Watch it again!
“Til that day. . .”
Til that day, indeed.
4.5 Out Of 5