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Way Of The Gun, The
EMAILPRINTArtisan Entertainment
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 15 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by: Christopher McQuarrie
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Release Date:
Theatrical: September 8, 2000
DVD: January 2, 2001
Running Time: 119 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for strong violence/gore, language and some sexuality
Starring Nicky Katt, Scott Wilson, James Caan, Benicio Del Toro, Taye Diggs, Juliette Lewis, and Ryan Phillippe
A twisting crime drama about two cold-blooded career criminals who kidnap a surrogate mother and find themselves in an escalating cycle of guns and mayhem. (Artisan Entertainment)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Film.com Peter Brunette
If you're interested in heavy-lidded moodiness and lots of attitude, Phillippe and Del Toro can't be beat.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
May feel redundant, but it is stylish and intelligent.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
All the players deliver performances that kill.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Plays like an unusually ritzy festival circuit audition film, though McQuarrie, it must be said, aces the audition.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
A confused, empty, only occasionally funny mess of a movie.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
So many characters to keep track of, so little time!
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
What pulls us along through the inky shoals of The Way of the Gun? Sheer style, plus the movie's refusal to play nice.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Sometimes trips over its own contrivance, especially at the ammo-ridden end.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
There's a good story buried somewhere in this melee.
Read Full Review >Variety Emanuel Levy
Each of the talented thesps has some good moments, but, ultimately, none can rise above the limitations of the material and filmmaking.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Edgy, hard-boiled crime drama that is very much in this Tarantino-esque tradition.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson
An empty, affected exercise, executed with just enough style to make you wish McQuarrie had a motive beyond his own career.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Steve Mikulan
Isn't a bad film, but as we watch it we're constantly rewriting it in our minds to make it a better one.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky
This film is no "Usual Suspects," because there is no twist, no gotcha.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times John Anderson
An implement of destruction loaded with more borrowed film riffs than could be compiled by 47 clones of Robert Rodriguez..
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday
As ugly, excessive and vulgar as "The Usual Suspects" was stylish, subtle and suave.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack
Rotten, pretentious movie full of minimalist dialogue and self-consciously arty cinematography.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Doesn't deliver an ounce of charm.
Salon.com Mary Elizabeth Williams
The directorial debut of the writer of "The Usual Suspects" keeps tossing the genre hand grenades one might expect, but they all wind up duds.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
A lot of uninteresting and unpleasant people torture, abuse, and fire guns at a lot of other uninteresting and unpleasant people, in a repulsive, interminable would-be crime thriller.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Apocalypse Brown gave it a9:
What makes me sick is when critics love shite films and pan excellent ones! Fortunately this follows in that tradition. This film will give you what you want to take from it - from violence, intrigue, warmth and humor, it packs it all. And considering the emotional ride it takes the viewer on, it is easy to over-looked its small yet silly faults. Ok Caan and the lover of Juliette Lewis (Dr dude) performances weren't memorable, but the rest of the cast coupled with the slow yet tense car chase scene and the dramatic shoot-outs leave you almost breathless. I am not a critic who is paid to give bad scores, so nine reflects the quality of this venture! 'What you gonna tell God now'?
Kris A. gave it a10:
Great action movie. Exciting all the way through, and it has my favourite opening scene of all time. Watch the first scene if nothing else.
Phil N. gave it an8:
I love this film... it has its flaws, but I honestly can't see why it is so underrated. The principle characters are despicable and there's no justification for their actions... that's partly the point of the film, and is - to me - an honest and realistic way to depict violence (far preferable to action movies in which we're asked to forget, forgive or applaud the various deaths the protagonists cause), yet it seems to be a common criticism of this film. I just don't understand that way of thinking. It seems to me the intentional coldness and amorality seen in this movie is way out of fashion now - had it appeared in the 70s, would it have been a classic like Point Blank? The film has some truly excellent dialogue (and non-verbal communication), but it has to be said that McQuarrie got a bit carried away at times and some of the lines are just too oblique to be understood or too "clever" to be believable. And, while their motivation is clear, Parker & Longbaugh's tactics in the final action scene are questionable, their approach somewhat less intelligent than we should expect from them. But in my opinion these are negligible flaws next to the film's strengths - not least, some of the finest firefights ever filmed. All performances from biggest to smallest are absolutely spot-on, and the score is wonderful. I would say, if you're a fan of 70s films like The Getaway or Bullit that are appreciated for their bleak and unpleasant qualities, then you'll probably get a kick out of Way Of The Gun. I wish there were more crime/action movies like it.
Chris G. gave it an8:
Finally, a caper flick starring criminals who aren't either too funny, too scary, or too emotional to believe. Love the slow, quiet alley car chase and unspoken communication between the two. Subtle. No wonder the critics panned it.
C-dub gave it a 7:
Love the genre, but too many twists for it's own good. Benicio Del Toro is the best I've ever seen him. But whomever cast James Caan should be spanked - Caan stunk in nearly all of his scenes and dragged the whole movie down.
Cloud Strife gave it a 9:
One of the best shoot-em up's I've seen. Unfortunantly it gets horribly underated by the critics. You really get the feel for Longbaugh's and Parker's struggle through the movie.
Howard T. gave it a 9:
Best movie I've seen as an adult. Period. Those vaguely familiar with G.I. Gurdjieff might think of his paths to enlightenment: the way of the monk, the way of the fakir, the way of the warrior. Now there's the way of the gun. I love the way these two punks are trying to find salvation and meaning - rationalization - for their ridiculously pathetic lives. This is deeper than your avearge bear stuff, and wickedly clever and fun, too.
