Gun Shy certainly had potential to be a quirky and entertaining crime-comedy but thanks to a haphazard story and comedy that only elicited a few chuckles; I found this to be pretty bad all around.
Gun Shy
(2017)
Genre(s): Action, Comedy, Crime
Lionsgate | R – 92 min. – $21.99 | November 7, 2017
Date Published: 11/07/2017 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 1.0/5 |
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Um, so that happened. Listen, I like Antonio Banderas and even his last two (basically) direct-to-video movies, Black Butterfly and Security, he wasn’t at all bad and in the case of the former was half decent until the ending. And now we get Gun Shy, an action-crime-comedy that doesn’t work as any one of those.
Turk Henry (ANTONIO BANDERAS) is a washed-up rock star who goes on vacation with his wife, and retired supermodel, Sheila (OLGA KURYLENKO), to Chile… in the winter season. When Sheila goes on an excursion with Turk staying behind getting drunk, a guerrilla group takes her hostage demanding $1 million which led to only one chuckle from me “Thank god. I thought they’d be asking for a lot of money.” It should be a simple exchange, especially since this is the gang’s first kidnapping, but interfering is Ben Harding (MARK VALLEY) working for the U.S. Embassy in Chile. When he gets wind of the kidnapping, and desperate to get out of the country and back to D.C., wants this to be a case of terrorism. At every turn he attempts to thwart Turk from delivering the ransom to the point of confiscating the money. Eventually, for his part, Turk brings in his agent’s assistant (AISLING LOFTUS), as his agent is MIA, and quirky negotiator Clive Muggleton (MARTIN DINGLE WALL). Hilarity, or not, ensues.
Sigh. I have no idea how movies like Gun Shy get made let alone how Banderas or even Kurylenko, get roped in. As I said before, Banderas is certainly capable of turning in good performances in an otherwise poorly written movies and often can play over-the-top cheesy, look no further than Assassins. Here, at least Banderas seemed like he was having a good time doing his own Jack Sparrow/Keith Richards interpretation, problem is, it just wasn’t very funny or on a basic level, amusing. And for her part, Kurylenko doesn’t get a whole lot to do, so much so that whenever she was on screen all I could think about is how much she resembles Catherine Zeta-Jones. Maybe it’s just me, though. Oh, and did I mention this turkey was directed by Simon West? Guess it shouldn’t be too surprising as West’s career hasn’t exactly been stellar, though some of his early works like The General’s Daughter and Tomb Raider, after that it’s been mostly crap (see: When a Stranger Calls remake and Stolen), this merely is the latest.
In the end, Gun Shy is yet another bad direct-to-video flick that deserves to be forgotten which is a shame as the potential was there to make a fun, quirky, crime-comedy. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.5/5 |
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This release comes with a matted slip cover and inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Not much included in terms of features outside of The Rock Star, the Pirate, and the Cast of Gun Shy (8:49; HD) making-of featurette and a Music Montage (2:49; HD). Previews – War on Everyone, Skiptrace, Black Butterfly, The Hitman’s Bodyguard |
VIDEO – 4.0/5 |
| Gun Shy rocks onto Blu-ray presented with a 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer (MPEG-4 AVC codec). The picture isn’t anything extraordinary but still has sharp detail and colors generally are bright in keeping with the more comedic tone. I didn’t notice any significant instances of artifacts or aliasing so it is a by and large clean looking movie. |
AUDIO – 3.75/5 |
| The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is, like the video, serviceable but not exactly noteworthy. Dialogue, coming through the center channel, sounds crisp and clear and when the action does pick up, that’s when the front, in particular, and rear speakers kick in, with either a common score or some ambient noises. |
OVERALL – 1.0/5 |
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Overall, Gun Shy certainly had potential to be a quirky and entertaining crime-comedy but thanks to a haphazard story and comedy that only elicited a few chuckles; I found this to be pretty bad all around. The Blu-ray release offers good video and audio transfers but a throwaway making-of featurette and musical montage. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.