BY THE GUN: PASS IT BY

Having just watched Ben Barnes in SONS OF LIBERTY I was expecting a decent low budget movie when I put this one in. Instead I found one of the most boring crime flicks I’ve seen in ages filled with so many cliché moments that it took everything in me to stay awake until the end.

Barnes plays Nick, a low level criminal in Boston who dreams of making the big time and becoming a member of the local mob. Working menial crimes and doing things on the side just to make a living, Nick also has to watch out for his family. For example a family member insults the daughter of a mob boss and Nick’s boss (a wasted use of Harvey Keitel) makes him apologize to the boss. Except that this boss insults him non-stop before he lets him off the hook.

When Nick goes to apologize to the daughter as well she gives him a rough time. Of course you know the two of them will end up in love with one another. Trust me when I say this is not a set up for a Romeo and Juliet moment.

Nick continues to desire to be a made man, a killer for the mob, so that he can join the upper echelon. When he’s finally given the opportunity he can’t bring himself to pull the trigger so his best friend does it for him. Nick gets the credit, is sworn into the mob and then discovers more problems when this same friend kidnaps the mob boss that insulted Nick. With nowhere to go, with no options open to him, the end draws near for Nick and his life of crime.

With some solid locations and decent photography the movie could have been much better. Too many long winded speeches with phony sounding dialogue, a meandering story that never draws you in and some side plots like Nick’s father who wants nothing to do with him because of his choices end up making a boring flick that does little more than waste your time. If you feel the need to watch any movie starring Keitel then by all means watch him wasted in this role. As for Barnes I hope he gets better material to work with in the future than this.

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