Issue #58 Vol. 35, May 4th, 2010
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Arts & Entertainment

Gunless misses its mark

Half-hearted lectures about identity are buried under this slapstick heavy anti-western

By Angela Espinoza

 Last December I treated myself to a copy of Inglourious Basterds. When I got home that evening to watch it, I found only two ‘coming soon’ trailers: an intense, overblown showcase for the musical Nine, and a very simple, amusingly dry one for a Canadian film called Gunless. In the months following, I noticed how heavily Gunless was being promoted; sadly, that’s something I rarely see for Canadian films, even in Vancouver—one of the world’s top filming locations. Opening night came, and as I walked past the full theatre of screaming teenagers for yet another Michael Bay-produced movie, I knew I was making the right decision.

The film opens with the slogan, “Once upon a time in the North,” where moments later we are treated to our first run in with The Montana Kid (Paul Gross), an American gunslinger. This guy isn’t your average, “For America!” type of cowboy though, which is actually surprising once you meet the rest of the cartoonish and/or stereotypical, one-dimensional characters.

For the first hour, the cinematography was just enough to remind me that I wasn’t watching a play. I say this because within minutes, you’ll note that almost every actor in this film relies on theatre-style acting, which is one of the worst things you can do on film. Looking at the résumés of these actors though (Graham Greene’s containing an Oscar nomination for Dances With Wolves (1990)), it’s clear that the result can be blamed squarely on the director, William Phillips. You would think someone who worked on the Canadian cult masterpiece Cube (1997) would know better, but I guess not.

With a wide abundance of slapstick humour and one-liners we’ve all heard a thousand times, you start to wonder when all this comedy will find purpose. Is it in the romantic subplot? No, because that was settled the split second we saw love interest Jane (Sienna Guillory). Even when we’re introduced to the potential runner for a love-triangle, Corporal Jonathan Kent (Dustin Milligan), it seems the movie is done with this tension after maybe seven minutes of footage.

Once Gunless reaches the last half-hour though, it suddenly turns into the movie it should’ve been all along. Just saying they have a shoot out does not do this epic scene justice. Granted, once this is all over, the film reminds us that it’s solely relying on the driest of dry humour, finally wrapping itself up like a Disney movie (namely 2006’s Cars).

That was another issue with this film. It’s meant for an older audience, but its reliance on guns is probably the only thing making this film PG. Only in the credits blooper reel do we hear swearing, but it’s all clown-horned out.

As a devoted follower of Brent Butt's Corner Gas, I frequently hear how much people hate that show, but can’t pertain as to why. It feels as though the contents of Gunless are maybe what the average person sees in Corner Gas.

To be fair though, in all the tired jokes, there are plenty of funny moments, and like Army of Darkness (1993), you’re there simply to see the main character; everything else is placed to make the hero more interesting. What it all comes down to is, if you feel like enduring a parody of Canada, then go see this film. 5.5/10