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Die in a Gunfight
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Wikipedia article
'Die in a Gunfight' is a 2021 American romantic crime thriller film directed by Collin Schiffli and written by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari. It stars Alexandra Daddario and Diego Boneta. It is described as an updated version of William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'.
The film was released in the United States on July 16, 2021, by Lionsgate.
Plot
As told by the Narrator (Billy Crudup), in third person omniscient:
In 1864 New York City, Tarleton Rathcart and Theodore Gibbon settle their petty rivalry through a Gentlemen's Duel resulting in Theodores death. This initiates a generations-long, bitter blood feud between the Rathcart and Gibbon families.
Growing up, Benjamin Gibbon (Diego Boneta) often finds himself in some sort of fight because of his talent for troublemaking, and seeks to find meaning in his life, due to seemingly perpetual depression. Ben falls in love, and momentarily ceases his troublemaking ways, only for love to escape him. This causes him to return to his disruptive habits. Now 27, Ben has renounced his familys wealth, and lives in a building he purchased with the money he did receive. He has regular communication with his parents, primarily his mother, Nancy (Nicola Correia-Damude), as his father Henry (Stuart Hughes), severely disapproves of his lifestyle.
Mary Rathcart (Alexandra Daddario), was also a troubled youth, having been expelled from every private school in town by the time she was 16. However, her parents consider her most severe indiscretion as having fallen in love with Ben. Upon their discovery, they forbid her seeing him again due to the family feud. Naturally disobedient, she continues to see Ben and they make plans to run away. When her parents find out this time, she is sent to boarding school abroad. Mary writes Ben letters, and Ben calls Mary but neither ever gets a hold of or a response from the other. It is revealed that Marys father, William (John Ralston), interfered with the exchanges, unbeknownst to either. Consequently, Mary stays in Paris, attending the Sorbonne, graduating years later, and now returning home.
Upon learning of Marys return, Ben, along with his inseparable friend Mukul (Wade Allain-Marcus), crash a party at the Rathcart estate. They are confronted by both Ben and Marys parents, reminding him the Rathcarts have a restraining order against him. They are threatened with police should they not leave immediately, to which they comply. As they are leaving Ben steals as many of the guests expensive coats as he can carry, only for he and Mukul to give them to the homeless.
Due to a whistleblower scandal brought upon by former Rathcart Corporation executive Pamela Corbett-Ragsdale (Caroline Raynaud), William hires Terrence Uberahl (Justin Chatwin), who in turn, hires Wayne McCarthy (Travis Fimmel), to kill her. William had previously hired Terrence to spy on Mary while she was abroad, but he unexpectedly fell in love with her. He uses this incident to ask William for Marys hand in marriage. William agrees with the caveat the whistleblower be taken care of.
Ben follows Mary to a club but runs into Wayne and his wife Barbie (Emmanuelle Chriqui), with Wayne distracting and taunting him. Ben, desperate to speak with Mary, tries to cut the conversation short but Wayne becomes aggressive and a fight breaks out. Ben awakes at his apartment with Mary. They clear the air and it becomes obvious that they never stopped loving each other, and make plans to marry as soon as possible.
Terrence instructs Wayne to go intimidate Ben out of any further contact with Mary. He arrives at Ben's apartment with Barbie, only to find two unknown goons also waiting for Ben. A scuffle breaks out, Wayne and Barbie flee, but the goons catch up to them, killing Barbie in the process. Unbeknownst to Wayne, the goons have also been hired by Terrence as a contingency plan, and to get rid of him and presumably Barbie, once he had killed Corbett-Ragsdale.
Wayne goes to Terrences office, returns his payment, and goes to the cinema to mourn, only to be confronted by Bravo, one of the goons. Through sheer anger, Wayne swiftly dispatches him and realizes that the goons are Terrences doing.
Determined to secure Marys hand in marriage, Terrence kills Corbett-Ragsdale himself.
Meanwhile, Echo, the other goon, learns that Mary and Ben are to marry. He calls Terrence to inform him of where, prompting him to crash the ceremony. At the church Terrence confronts Ben, admitting that hes always hated Ben, as Mary talked about him so much. As Terrence is about to shoot Ben, Wayne shows up with William in tow. In turn, as Wayne is about to shoot Terrence, a police officer shoots him, enabling Terrence to shoot Ben. Mukul fights Terrence, but it is Mary who shoots him dead.
The film concludes with Ben and Mary driving into the sunset, presumably to Mexico, just as they had planned years before.
Cast
Production
The script was listed in the 2010 edition of the Black List, a survey of most-liked unproduced screenplays. On December 8, 2010, it was revealed that Zac Efron was attached to star in and produce the film through his own production company Ninjas Runnin' Wild. On April 26, 2011, Efron was confirmed to play the lead, Anthony Mandler being set to helm the film, which at the time, would have been his directorial debut.
After it went through development hell for nearly seven years, on September 25, 2017, it was announced that Josh Hutcherson and Kaya Scodelario were attached to play the lead roles, Helen Hunt and Olivia Munn took supporting roles, Collin Schiffli being tapped for the director's chair. On January 29, 2018, David Dastmalchian joined the cast. On September 6, 2019, Diego Boneta and Alexandra Daddario signed on for the project. On September 7, 2019, Travis Fimmel was added to the main cast. On November 15, 2019, Wade Allain-Marcus joined the cast, replacing Dastmalchian.
Principal photography took place between November 13 and December 13, 2019, in Toronto.
Release
In April 2021, it was announced that Lionsgate had acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. It was released in theaters and through video on demand in the United States on July 16, 2021.
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 17% based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10.
Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com gave the film 0.5 out of 4 stars and stated, "Schiffli's snarky and snide self-aware tone quickly grows wearisome, and his action sequences have a cheapness about them that's distancing." Beatrice Loayza of 'The New York Times' gave the film a negative review and stated, "It's a shame that it's all so wincingly contrived. The film tries so hard to be slick, but its efforts are both unoriginal and painfully amateurish." Mae Abdulbaki of 'Screen Rant' gave the film 1 out of 5 stars and stated, "'Die in a Gunfight' is utterly empty, with poorly developed characters, clunky dialogue, and a disingenuous romance that attempts to be epic in nature." Mark Hughes of 'Forbes' gave the film a positive review and stated, "[A] sleek, subversive, lushly fun action-crime thriller. One of the better films inspired by Romeo and Juliet, its a welcome addition to the director's rsum and deserves to find an audience." Brian Orndorf of Blu-ray.com gave the film a 'D+' and stated, "Mostly an uninspired drag, and perhaps the first "Romeo and Juliet" adaptation where viewers will side with the exasperated parental characters."
Russ Simmons of KKFI-FM gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and stated, "Diego Boneta and Alexandra Daddario star in this cynical romance that has flashes of inspired decadence but is a bit too self-satisfyingly hip for its own good." Todd Jorgenson of Cinemalogue gave the film a negative review and stated, "The latest contemporary reimagining of Romeo and Juliet discards all but the bones of Shakespeare's text in favor of visual gimmicks and narrative cliches." Mark Reviews Movies gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars and stated, "[I]t becomes apparent that the flash is just a transparent distraction from how little there actually is here." Fico Cangiano of CineXpress gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and stated, "A film that doesn't know what it wants to be or where it wants to go." Leo Brady of AMovieGuy.com gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars and stated, "There's a lot of style, campy performances, and a nicef dash of romance to round it out." Peter Sobczynski of eFilmCritic.com gave the film a negative review and stated, "A brutally tiresome cartoon that is never close to being as hip, quirky and subversive as it thinks it is." Steven Warner of In Review Online gave the film a negative review and stated, "The last thing the film world needed was an umpteenth retelling of Romeo and Juliet, and yet here we are with 'Die in a Gunfight', the umpteenth take on the classic love story." Jared Mobarak of The Film Stage gave the film a 'C' and stated, "The whole is fast-paced despite its numerous exposition-heavy lulls and the production value and energy is nice to look at, but [you're left] wanting more." Travis Hopson of Punch Drunk Critics gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and stated, "The biggest problem with 'Die in a Gunfight' is direction, which is tonally all over the map and burdened with cheap visual tricks that undermine any connection with the characters." Aaron Neuwirth of We Live Entertainment gave the film 3 out of 10 stars and stated, "'Die in a Gunfight' not only felt messy but gave off an overconfident vibe that just didn't click with me."
References
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