Runaway Pistol (2002) User Reviews

Telling a story from the gun's point of view

[peternepstad · 8/10 · 29 August 2010]

The premise of RUNAWAY PISTOL -- an entire movie from the point of view of a gun, as it moves from owner to owner -- is high concept and one might think almost doomed to stupidity. Several American movies have already done similar things -- chance encounters changing perspective, or a dollar bill changing hands from one person to another. But a well written and inventive script manages to inject the film with life beyond just the sales pitch. The gun profoundly changes lives, but never in a way that is quite expected. The film drifts from the darkly serious, to the comic, to the bizarre, and back again. The action is occasionally seen in a gun POV shot, at other times we see what the gun owner fantasizes as real, still other times the real and the fantastic merge. The gun itself narrates the story. Lam Wah Chuen pushes the unpleasant metaphor of humans as fish throughout the picture, opening with a sadistic child putting fighting fish into a single tank and watching them kill each other senselessly. They don't know why they do this, it is simply in their nature. In the end, we long for redemption, but only the gun itself is able to deliver.

A Dark Turn in Independent Hong Kong Cinema

[aquila23 · 5 June 2003]

It is interesting to note how the films are evolving in Planet Hong Kong's wacky indie scene. This films takes allot from the styles of Wong-Kar Wai and the Cinematography of Chris Doyle (odd angles, filming off of t.v.s......) Nonetheless it does achieve somewhat of an original feel. It freely floats between realism and fantasy, and integrates allot of Japanese style shock value...the only difference in comparison to someone like Miike, is that Runaway Pistol film's these situations in a frighteningly realistic method.....implimenting a type of emoitional katharsis that is lacking in Miike's comic book filming style. 7.5 / 10

"The Way of the Gun"

[Pedro-37 · 4/10 · 2 February 2003]

"Runaway Pistol" is a well meant anti-gun film that never quite manages to get the message across or to entertain. It portrays "the way of the gun" - a pistol's different owners and their fate, which is of course always tragic. The problem with this episodic structure is the lack of connection. The style limits our affection with the characters, it's even hard to follow who's who because of the swift changes in the story.

Apart from this lack of focus, the film is also rather dull - technically and story-wise. It's badly directed, filmed and edited and it has this cheap category-III-look that makes it appear like a cheap exploitation film. That of course sabotages the anti-gun-message and makes "Runaway Pistol" an uninspired b**tard of different genres. Not utterly bad, but really far from good. I'd give it a

3/10

Near genius disregard of conventional narrative

[flagrantsake · 10/10 · 24 May 2003]

I saw this film and was somewhat blown away. For comparisons sake, I would place it somewhere between Wong Kar Wai's 'Fallen Angels', Takeshi Miike and 60's/70's french new wave (Godard, Bresson etc).. If you are looking for conventional narrative with a simple 'message' where all the conclusions are made for you then look elsewhere. The plot is a series of events or episodes loosely strung together around a gun. The gun even provides a little first person narrative Wong Kar Wai style. In fact it appears this film owes quite a bit to 'Fallen Angels'. The cinematography and music go together really well...the music is excellent. has a very kinetic Hong Kong street feel. The confusing thing perhaps for some is that the film itself offers no judgement on the questionable acts or lifestyle of the characters. The film also owes a little to Takeshi Miike in it's matter of fact, lack of predictable remorse in the characters, type depiction of violent acts etc. so for Wong Kar Wai and Takeshi Miike fans this is a must see.....