way of the gun is brimming with surprises , some good , most bad . one of the good ones is ryan phillippe's surprisingly halfway decent performance . after the actor gained much attention by posing and preening through teen swill like i know what you did last summer , he hinted at a bit growth in last year's cruel intentions with his amusingly contemptuous john malkovich meets james spader performance , though his acting in that film faltered around the third act mark , precisely when the screenplay made his character grow a heart ( presumably to appeal to his training bra wearing fans ) and start bellyaching about how he'd fallen for his " target " . it was a dramatic shift that neither phillippe nor the film's director could negotiate . but he seems to be trying and that shouldn't be overlooked ( or probably over praised ) seeing as how , at this point , he really isn't required to do much but look pretty . here , phillippe has procured a five day growth of beard , his hair askew and his affect altered to sound something like james cagney in all his " look here , see " glory . it's tough to believe a pretty boy like phillippe as a hard ass , but his performance actually helps with the illusion . unlike ben affleck's puppy dog approach in reindeer games , phillippe is believable and not too bad at that . as for the plot , well , <NEG> that's one of the bad surprises </NEG> ; phillippe and the great benicio del torro play two moronic ( and not even remotely likeable ) criminals ( introduced to us in the parking lot of a rave where they stupidly pick a fight with about twenty people ) who hatch a scheme to kidnap a surrogate mother ( juliette lewis ) after overhearing that she's carrying the baby of painter ( scott wilson ) , a very well connected wealthy man . the kidnapping devolves into a laborious shoot out where much damage is done and many are killed . but the anti-heroes escape with the woman while an aging hit man ( james caan ) and two scheming bodyguards ( taye diggs and nicky katt ) remain in pursuit . directed by christopher mcquarrie , the screenwriter who won an oscar for his work on usual suspects , an overrated piece of crime noir in many circles ( this one included ) , way of the gun is <NEG> a hodgepodge of crime thriller motifs that just oozes eye rolling familiarity </NEG> . unlike phillipe , mcquarrie doesn't seem to be growing at all ; <NEG> he fills his flick with a sprawling labyrinth of plot all snatched from movies i know i've seen before and worse , it feels like it </NEG> . the film lacks even a fresh approach ( like what soderbergh did out of sight or the limey ) to its clich ? s , all of which are <NEG> spewed before us in a picture that tries so desperately to be hip and gritty without bothering to notice how common it is </NEG> . it features characters living by a code they seemed to have picked up in sam peckinpah 101 rather than any thing resembling life . even attempts at emotional weight <NEG> feel strained like in preposterous scene </NEG> where enemies james caan and benicio del torro stop in their tracks to have a cup of coffee and pontificate on life , philosophy , etc . i didn't like the bit much when it first appeared in heat , here , it's even more self consciously " dramatic " . usual suspects , which also featured a bunch of low lives that seemed to live by a code they learned from the movies , worked to some degree because of that astonishing twist ending . nowadays an astonishing twist per ending is de rigeur , never mind if it deems all that transpired before it completely inconsequential . thus , nearly every character in way comes with at least one dirty little secret ( most <NEG> amateurishly projected </NEG> before they appear ) and it too has an ironic little twist at the end ( nothing earth shattering , like in the usual suspects ) but i admit , i didn't see it coming , and i smiled . however most of the movie feels exactly like the interrogation scenes between palminteri and spacey in usual suspects : <NEG> a lot of faux huffing and puffing with no rhythm or reason . or substance . it's just as overplotted </NEG> as suspects , and <NEG> often dull as any overplotted movie without interesting characters , a distinctive style , or a good script would be </NEG> . even the good stuff , most of which involves james caan ( doing a fine job ) , <NEG> feels odd and out of place </NEG> in a movie that thinks lines like " karma is only justice with out the satisfaction " are clever . at one point caan laments " need is the ultimate monkey " a line so inexplicable he might as well have said " love is like hippo ass " . <NEG> i've seen porno with better dialogue </NEG> . and some with better plot lines too . but rarely has porn offered up such a talented cast ( i mean , can you even compare james caan to ron jeremy ) . caan slips into this role with seeming ease , he could do this kind of soft-spoken tough guy in a coma , but he manages to give his character depth and weariness . benicio del torro is always welcome , though here he plays it fairly straight ( rather than another oddball character creation like the ones the actor gave us in usual suspects and excess baggage ) , adopting a brad pitt-esque quizzical pout to go along with his heavy swaggering . speaking of pitt , his ex , juliette lewis , is <NEG> a weak link , either shouting her lines with ear shattering shrillness , or waddling about like a silly goose </NEG> . nicky katt was brilliant in a brief role in the limey , here his role is just as brief only <NEG> he seems wasted </NEG> ; he's only kept around for his cold presence . taye diggs has a similar function , cool as ever , but never a character , though the guy has one helluva death scene . for the most part way is <NEG> incessantly talky with no reason to give a hippo's ass about any thing that transpires since its characters are never more than simplistic pawns </NEG> . it's vaguely tarantino-ish , but in a bad truth and consequences nm way , with phillippe , in one scene , leaping into a stupid rant about " faggots " migrating to los angeles . you know the routine . the final shoot out is pure bargain basement john woo ( who himself seems to be doing bargain basement john woo ) with interchangeable bad guys lining up to be shot at . but those gun shots sure crack like thunder . just the other day i was watching an old dirty harry movie on cable and was stunned to hear the weak elephant grunt-like sound that emanated from harry's fetishized smith and wesson . oh how far we've come .
