The Way of the Gun

The Way of the Gun is a 2000 film, directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Ryan Phillippe and Benicio Del Toro as two reckless and brutal gunfighters who kidnap a woman (Juliette Lewis) who is carrying the child of a powerful mobster, hoping to obtain a huge cash payoff. All hell breaks loose, leading to a dramatic showdown at a Mexican brothel.

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2000 - Film - Directed - Christopher McQuarrie - Ryan Phillippe - Benicio Del Toro - Juliette Lewis

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Action speaks louder than words, amid a web of ambiguous relationships between the characters. The mobster's capable bodyguards, unfaithful wife, menacing right hand man, and the kidnappers all work to outwit one another for their own angle on the ransom money. The gunplay feels more subdued than typical of modern cinema, to spectacular effect. It is over the top, certainly, but never false or unrealistically heroic. Simultaneously calm and chaotic, the intense exchanges between professional gunmen would be better described as "surreal" than "unreal".

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