Die in a gunfight

After two rather successful first films (Animal (2014) and All Creatures Here Below (2018)), director Collin Schiffli comes back with a third film Die in a Gunfight which turns out to be a real cinematographic UFO as one wonders if this one doesn't aim to follow in the footsteps of an azimuthal screenplay by Quentin Tarantino with his array of people each more picturesque than the other Judge rather, After an animated opening that resembles a comic book where you turn the pages to discover a story and the main characters, we discover the character Ben Gibbon (Diego Boneta) who seems to attract trouble on his own and knows how to get into rocky situations. Things will get even worse for him when he crosses paths with Mary Rathcart (Alexandra Daddario).

Mary and Ben are the offspring of two powerful families engaged in an age-old feud. They are about to rekindle an affair after many years of separation. Their forbidden love will set off the dominoes that will attract Ben's best friend Mukul, who owes him a debt, Terrence, Mary's would-be protector-turned-stalker, Wayne, an open-minded, ethical Australian hitman, and his free-spirited girlfriend, Barbie. This waltz of rather zany characters characterizes the only positive point of this film whose screenplay by Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari seems not to really know in which direction to go. It comes out of the scenes disjointed by the presence of a duo that works very well composed of Diego Boneta and Alexandra Daddario. 

The last act could have given the film a small chance to catch up and hold our attention but this impossible marriage is like this failed film and of an abysmal length. Even if we appreciate the young actress Alexandra Daddario (Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013), San Andreas (2015)...) it is not enough to hold our attention and we end up being bored in front of this film. 

While the excellent opening credits of the film could have oriented it towards a dramatic comedy with its share of gangsters of all kinds, the rest of the film seems to lag behind and we end up with a story that seems to want to tell us once again the story of Romeo and Juliet without really quoting Shakespeare (surely for rights issues). Collin Schiffli's direction seems to want to mix the unlikely cross between Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie but unfortunately the mix, if not explosive, quickly turns out to be insipid and the film seems to extend itself unnecessarily. While the trailer had held our attention, we were quickly disappointed to discover a film whose scenario is cruelly lacking in a solid structure and despite all the heart that director Collin Schiffli put into saving this film, the result is a real disappointment.

Die in a Gunfight
Directed by Collin Schiffli
Written by Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari
Produced by Adrian Politowski, Tom Butterfield, Harry White, Mark Gordon, Martin Metz
Starring Diego Boneta, Alexandra Daddario, Justin Chatwin, Travis Fimmel, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Wade Allain-Marcus
Cinematography : Magdalena Górka
Edited by Amanda C. Griffin
Music by Ian Hultquist
Production companies : Align, Culmination Productions, Mark Gordon Pictures, Jobro Productions
Distributed by Lionsgate
Release date : July 16, 2021 (United States)
Running time : 92 minutes

Seen on July 13, 2021 (press screener)

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