By the Gun

"You watched the first half of Goodfellas like a thousand times." That is an actual line from this film that feels more like a critique of itself. By the Gun is a Scorsese wannabe film that has terrible dialog and even worse accents. The only thing worse than being a Scorsese wannabe is being a Scorsese rip-off and while By the Gun does have moments of blatant plagiarism, it does quite fully embrace it. The dialog and screenplay feels like they are excerpts from better films in the same genre. It never quite gels coming out of any of these actors outside of Slaine and Harvey Keitel. The best part about this film is Slaine, he turns in a good performance but his character feels more and more like Jackie Boy from Mean Streets going into the third act. Harvey Keitel is...well, he's Harvey Keitel, this guy created the tough guy so he gets a pass just because he plays this part in his sleep. Leighton Meester does her best here and it is nowhere near enough to salvage the cast from being a complete disaster. My last and final complaint about the cast is more a question than anything, but what in the hell is Toby Jones doing in this film and what the hell was that accent? Furthermore, the film is too bright and vibrant. What we're seeing isn't doing the moments of grit any justice, they're glossy, crisp and hardly the vibe it wants to be going for. But, setting aside a terrible cast and poor cinematography, what is most important here is that this film isn't entertaining. It isn't interesting, it falls in line with being another poorly done mob film that was lucky enough to get picked up by a distributor.

Set in Boston we meet Nick Tortano (Ben Barnes) he works for Salvatore Vitaglia (Harvey Keitel) in what is seen as the dying days of Sicilian mob rule – with the new eastern Europeans taking over. Nick just wants to be a 'made man' and in doing so has become estranged to his father, but has a best bud in George (Slaine) who sort of gives him a leg up – but he has more of a taste for wanton killing than does Nick.

Throw into the mix a little illicit gambling, the ubiquitous lap dancing club and a stereotype Mafiosi or two and you have the general ingredients for a decent film. But this has all the pieces in the wrong place, the slow burn lacks any menace to keep you interested and when the violence does come it is so rushed that you could almost miss it. There is no exploration of the new wave of gangsters or the police doing a single thing – which is a bit odd but would have added something to an otherwise stagily linear narrative.

No-one was dusting off the awards cabinet for this one either, but Slaine was good and Keitel can do no wrong. Barnes as a lead was just too nice to be convincing, but did a fair fist of it. This is one that is probably OK for a rental with some beers, as indeed I did, but it is no way going to be a keeper. If you love all things mob related then it is probably worth a go, but do not expect to be blown away.

Usually I root for the lead in a film. In this case I just couldn't. I fully understand now why the lead character Ben Barnes distanced himself from the film after it's release. He was made to look like a wanna be punk gangster aka WANKSTER. I refused to garner any sympathy for his situation, simply because the acting didn't get me there. I was more rooting for his best friend Slaine and he was a complete reprobate. I have to say it did live up to the expectations of they typical mob movie with the strip clubs, test of loyalty and revenge tactics. The alienation of at least 1 parent and a sibling torn between the 2. However, with the exception of Keitel, Coaster and Slaine the acting was pretty disappointing. Not sorry I watched but was predictable through and through.

Watched this last night, hoping to see something along the lines of, well, good acting. I was bitterly disappointed. To call the lead wooden, would be an insult to trees. Awful script. Awful direction. Awful acting. Awful..........just awful. Harvey Keitel does his best, but he must have known this was going to be a Krimbo turkey from day one. Painful to watch, and I can only hope whoever cast this recovers quickly.Low budget boredom from start to finish, with unbelievable dialogue. Wrong Turn at Tahoe, makes this film look like what it is, a cheap, no thrills D movie.I implore you, gentle film viewer, to give this one a wide, wide berth. To sum up, do not waste your precious time!

i watched this earlier today, its fairly well filmed, realistic locations etc but to be honest is was clear after 30 mins or so that i was really wasting my time, even so i decided to see it through to its bitter clichéd predictable end, it amazes me how actors of the calibre of both Toby Jones and Harvey Keitel ended up in this movie all be it playing bit parts... maybe they 'had to do a little favour for someone' by being in this very average clichéd seen it all before type film... a familiar tale of protection rackets, strip clubs, hits going wrong, family loyalty, revenge and of course no one gets away clean! including the audience! 4/10