Review: Gun

Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson is perhaps ironically cast as a guy named Rich (see, ‘coz he’s only got half a dollar!), a mid-level Detroit arms dealer. He’s looking to expand his currently modest trade with the help of the mysterious Gabriella (AnnaLynne McCord) and her big-time employer, gun runner John Larroquette. Meanwhile, Val Kilmer plays Angel, a recently released ex-con who once knew Rich in prison, and decides to take up Rich’s offer to join his gang, to the annoyance of Rich’s comrades (Hassan Johnson and Charles Malik Winfield). However, just as a big deal is about to go down, Gabriella informs Rich that he appears to have a mole in his team, informing the cops. In the words of Eddie Murphy’s Mr. Robinson: Who could dat be? James Remar and Paul Caulderon play the frustrated cops who might finally be able to nail Rich. Danny Trejo plays a rival whom Rich clashes with.

Directed by Jessy Terrero (“Soul Plane”, of all films) and scripted by none other than 50 Cent himself, this 2010 urban crime-thriller is at least better than the last pairing of 50 Cent and Val Kilmer (which still only adds up to half a buck. Sorry...), “Streets of Blood”. That was a complete stinker and horribly shot on shaky HD where you couldn’t see a damn thing. This one is at least competent and watchable (and it looks OK for a digitally-shot film), even if one of the main stars is miscast and 50 Cent’s screenplay is as old as the hills. He also delivers an unsatisfying ending, where a few loose ends are left untied. I will say this though, he delivers the best performance of his career so far (he wasn’t bad in “Streets of Blood”, either. That film wasn’t his fault). As a mid-level gun-runner, 50 Cent is authentic, which is all anyone can really ask of a non-actor. I just wish the former Wanksta (Seriously, the worst album title ever) was a little more articulate in speech.

The film also boasts solid performances in smaller roles by reliable hands like James Remar, Paul Caulderon (who may be one of the coolest guys alive), Danny Trejo (who steals his one scene), and John Larroquette. John Larroquette really does love being John Larroquette, doesn’t he? He’s given a clichéd role here, as a racist rich white arms supplier, but he oozes smarminess and the smug satisfaction that goes with being John Larroquette. That’s a compliment...I think. He plays a cliché very well, anyway. AnnaLynne McCord as the middle...er...woman between Larroquette and Half a Buck is less impressive on account of her inability to act. She is freakin’ hot, though.

The big casting issue is Val Kilmer. At least I’m reliably informed that it was a long-haired Val Kilmer. I swear, when I first saw him in this I thought that the Indian chief from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” had been resurrected. Dude got fat, real fat. Did Terrero find Kilmer just wandering the streets and coaxed him into appearing in the film? He actually looks like a homeless person. A really, really well-fed homeless person, which is probably the only reason why he doesn’t wear a ‘will act for food’ sign on him. Insults aside, he’s actually a very hard sell in this role. I bought him as a reckless bank robber in “Heat”, but here his presence is so hard to accept that it serves to make obvious the twist with his character long before it is revealed. Nothing about his participation here is right, and it makes 50 Cent’s character look like a moron. Talk about ‘One of these things is not like the others...’. And when did mid-level gun-runners start employing bums anyway? Also, it must be said that whilst the title is aptly chosen, the film seems awfully fetishistic about weaponry for a film that is presumably anti-crime and anti-gun trade. Strange, no?

The film isn’t anything new, profound, or even terribly interesting, but it’s competent, and that makes it infinitely better than “Streets of Blood”. 

Rating: C+