You can tell a lot about a film by its opening credits. While they tend to be included for union purposes, a good director will take the free time to establish a mood, aesthetic, and pace for the whole film, so that the audience has hit the ground running before any one has even said a word. On the other hand, it can also be indicative of a lack of patience, indirection, or lack of general control of the medium. In the case of Gun, it is unfortunately the latter. They feature (predictably enough) a man preparing a rifle for battle, coolly loading it with bullets and cocking it. While this could have been handled effectively (Lord knows enough filmmakers have tried their hand at it), the whole sequence feels rushed and disorganized. This wouldn’t necessarily ruin Gun, but it does get it off on the wrong foot and serves as a microcosm for the rest of the film’s problems.
Rich (Curtis '50 Cent’ Jackson) is the biggest gun runner in all of Detroit, which happens to be going through an aberrant crime wave for which Rich is largely responsible. Under pressure from the mayor’s office to put a stop to the violence, Detective Rogers (James Remar, Ajax to you) steps up the heat, instituting a major frontal assault on Rich with the help of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. But odds are that he won’t be able to stop Rich from forming a relationship with a powerful gun supplier (John Larroquette) in a massive deal organized by Rich’s business associate and lover Gabriella (AnnaLynne McCord). Meanwhile, there’s friction among the members of Rich’s small gang, largely because of the new arrival of Rich’s old contact Angel (Val Kilmer).
Believe it or not, 50 Cent (who also scripted) isn’t what’s wrong with this movie. He can’t deliver a line convincingly to save his life, but he does have enough presence (and street cred; the man’s been shot nine times, after all) to suggest that a decent performace could be wrought out of him in the same way that blood is squeezed out of a wet dishrag. Val Kilmer’s not too bad, either, as he underplays every scene that he’s in, and the dependable Remar does his determined cop routine as effectively as bigger name actors in much larger films (though one senses that this probably meant to do a little better than direct-to-DVD). The problem is just that it never seems as if any real feeling was injected into this film, despite the well-established fact that minor gangster films are typically little more than repositiories for people who were more successful in other areas to indulge their most base and self-serving instincts. Freed from the shackles of Jim Sheridan’s high-minded aspirations, 50 Cent could have made the most gleefully ridiculous gangster film since Scarface, but instead takes what could instead be loosely termed the ‘high road’, as barely a glimmer of authentic rage, joy, or posture is allowed to emerge from the bleak color scheme (if you didn’t know better, you’d think that this was set during the Cold War in some Iron Curtain country).
And then there’s the ending. And everything that immediately preceding the ending. We’d be lying to our selves if we said that we hadn’t given films with all too similar structures and premises a free pass simply because Pacino or De Niro was in it, but then again, they had a better grasp of why any of that was compelling in the first place. Even with a cameo by Danny Trejo, Gun never seems to want to let its hair down and revel in its abuse of hierarchy, but then builds it yard so small that barely even makes it to the 76-minute mark. This film could have been ridiculous fun (and it occasionally is, mostly due to 50 Cent’s increasingly creative use of the word ‘shit’), but seems to want to rush and get it over with as soon as possible, as if nobody involved wanted to spend any more time with it than they absolutely had to. Then again, you might have been able to tell that from the credits.
Bonus Features
The disc also contains the trailer.
"Gun" is on sale January 4, 2011 and is rated R. Crime. Directed by Jessy Terrero. Written by Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson. Starring Danny Trejo, James Remar, John Larroquette, Val Kilmer, Curtis 50 Cent Jackson, AnnaLynne McCord.
