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"Way of the Gun" is a complicated ride. Its got a tricky plot and a violent pedigree, as part of the larger wave of caper films that followed in the years after Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction." But the action scenes in "Way of the Gun" arrive with a couple thoughtful speeches about fate and death. This movie may deliver a shot of adrenaline - but it's also got higher ambitions.

Ryan Phillippe and Benicio Del Toro play two small-time crooks caught in the middle of a double-cross involving bigger crooks. Their initial plan is to kidnap a pregnant woman who's giving birth to the baby of a wealthy couple. But she's protected by two ruthless security guards - one of which is played by Taye Diggs - who seem willing to let her die in a shoot-out rather than have the kidnapping succeed. When they call off their plan, they discover that the woman has joined them on her own. The wealthy family is, of course, connected to the underworld, and soon the "kidnappers" are on the run from more than just the two bodyguards and a ruthless "fixer."

The production values are surprisingly high for a simple action movie. Its script was written by Christopher McQuarrie, who had won an Oscar for "The Usual Suspects." Hollywood legend James Caan appears as the unrelenting fixer, and the pregnant woman is played by Academy Award nominee Juliette Lewis. The movie even opens with a scene in which Sarah Silverman taunts the two outsiders - only to trigger a violent brawl (while the Rolling Stones "Rip This Joint" plays in the background). The movie then devotes nearly two hours to following its violent characters - but along the way, they deliver one memorable line after another.

The film culminates inevitable with a desperate shoot out for custody of the $15 million in ransom. The money awaits the two crooks in a seemingly empty courtyard, as they mull their next move in an abandoned bar. "There's always free cheese in a mouse trap," one concludes philosophically - but there's really no going back. The characters names - Parker and Longbaugh - were taken from the real-life names of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Are they foreshadowing the movie's outcome - or holding on to one last surprise?

One things for sure - nothing's predictible in this movie. As Parker warns Longbaugh: "A plan is just a list of things...that don't happen!"

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
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