American Gun (2005)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Not to be confused with a 2002 movie starring James Coburn.This is an insult to him, and his last piece of work!!! Movies have to have unique names! Is that so difficult. I'm giving a bad rating just for this fact! Aren't there enough words in our vocabulary?It really does a disservice to the earlier film of the same title if it is not a remake.It's confusing for the viewer and may take away potential income from the previous film.SAG requires all actors to have unique names, why not the same with movie titles? Is it so difficult, Richard Dean Anderson had to stick the "Dean" in because of the existence of Richard Anderson, known by many as Oscar Goldman on Six Million Dollar Man. Let us not forget Bill Macy from "Maude" and "The Jerk", still a cut up in his 80's, , and William H. Macy frequent David Manet collaborator. Jeff Dranetz

Another hard-hitting and thought-provoking drama. Director Aric Avelino examines guns from the perspective of four separate stories: Marcia Gay Hardin as the mother of an Oregon teenager who shot up his school, Columbine-like, and faces guilt and blame and scorn from neighbors, and worry about her other son, who is now the same age as the other brother when he performed his murderous act and suicide; an inner city school principal (excellently played by Forest Whitaker, who I was pleased to see won an Oscar last week for his role as Idi Amin in LAST KING OF Scotland) trying to stay on top of the school's anti-gun policy, with Arlen Escarpeta as an A-student carrying for his mom and family who feels he needs a gun for protection while walking to/from school; Tony Goldwyn as the cop who first arrived on scene at the Oregon school shooting and who faces community/media criticism for delayed response (again, very much based on Columbine); and Linda Cardellini who shines in a very convincing performance as a west coast girl displaced to a Virginia college who is working in her granddad's (Donald Sutherland) gun shot. All of the performances, in fact, are striking and through them the picture really has an emotional impact. The film, without comment, portrays these differing views of gun ownership, gun violence, school shootings, guilt, blame, etc., very nicely filmed and beautifully portrayed, its vignettes and its style leaving the viewer to establish their own viewpoint and opinions. The film keeps its personal viewpoint quiet, instead simply portraying a few aspects of American life impacted by the consequences of guns. Like American HISTORY X, I found this to be a provoking and stimulating drama about reality, choices, consequences, and inevitability, peopled by honest and real characters, superbly portrayed and beautifully composed.

I have seen at least four other films (including Michael Moore's documentary) about the guns in America, and their easy availability - three of these were about senseless shootings in schools. And now we have another. Unfortunately, this is the least interesting of the lot. Gus van Sant's "Elephant" tops the board in its classic understatement, and weaves disparate strands together in the end. With this movie, which dissects the aftermath of a school shooting starts off with a tantalising premise - what happens AFTER? It is almost too horrible to bear, the mother (a marvelous performance by Marcia Gay Harden) of a shooter in a school massacre, the traumatised police officer, the headmaster who is so intent on stopping guns in schools that he neglects (oh cliché cliché!) his own family and so on are all formulaic plot devices at the best. The performances by the main actors are really good, but the poor material they have been given negates all.There is no sense of interconnectivity between the individual subplots, not really even at the end, when a totally gratuitous bit of violence brings just two of the sub-plot protagonists accidentally together.The movie builds up to nothing, and so ends with a big SO WHAT?

I disagree with the people who think that nothing sticks out in this movie.I saw it and was amazed at some of the things that were said and shown.Sure, there may have been some exaggerated intensity, but isn't that sometimes necessary to prove a point.Do you think that the real lives of people who have to carry guns to school, are robbed at gun point, or live a threatened life are calm, relaxed, or peaceful? No. Those lives can be full of anxiety, violence, and much intensity!I think this movie provides a great view of something that is ripping apart our society before our very eyes.Hats off to the film makers!