Gunfights, forbidden love, and snark come together in strange and terrible ways in Die in a Gunfight. Directed by Collin Schiffli, the film draws its influence from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, pitting two families against each other while their children fight to be together and break the generational feud (something which R#J most recently did to greater success). Just because a story has been done before doesn’t mean it can’t offer something new, but the film is only interested in aesthetics over substance. Die in a Gunfight is utterly empty, with poorly developed characters, clunky dialogue, and a disingenuous romance that attempts to be epic in nature.
Ben Gibbon (Diego Boneta) and Mary Rathcart (Alexandra Daddario) are two star-crossed lovers whose families, both corporate moguls, have been feuding for generations — what began as a war of words ended in an old-fashioned duel in the 19th century. When Ben and Mary’s parents discover their children’s romance, they separate them, sending Mary to France where she is guarded at all times by Terrence Uberahl (Justin Chatwin), a man who is convinced he should be with Mary despite her protests. Meanwhile, Ben rebels, giving up his parents’ wealth to go his own way. When Mary returns to the U.S., she and Ben decide to break away from their parents’ control to be together once and for all, but Terrence, and Mary’s shady corporate father (John Ralston), threaten to thwart their happily ever after.
The film makes the mistake of telling and not showing, relying too heavily on exposition. It’s why the narration, interesting as it is at first, begins to grate on the nerves despite it doing most of the legwork in laying out the story. Billy Crudup is charming in the narrator role, but even his charisma can’t make up for the film’s lack of depth. What’s more, the narration doesn’t even add anything to the overarching plot or character dynamics, which are all incredibly shallow and notably lackluster. Whatever screenwriters Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari were trying to go for comes across as cynical, vapid, and ludicrous.
Die in a Gunfight tries and fails to be suave. It's self-aware enough to acknowledge some of its more ridiculous story beats, but it also takes itself too seriously, trying too hard to be alluring that it fails on nearly every front. There’s a cold, calculated distance the story has to its character approach and the many subplots never come together by the end. Somehow, Terrence became the antagonist of the story, a twist that was wholly unnecessary and felt more like it was tacked on to keep the plot moving and afloat. It’s bad enough that much of the story beats and character moments are contrived, but the shift towards Terrence and his cartoonish villainy feels increasingly disconcerting.
Ben and Mary are star-crossed lovers, but there is never a moment when Die in a Gunfight deepens their relationship or expands upon why the audience should care about their romance at all. This is made all the worse by Daddario and Boneta’s overall lack of chemistry. When the pair have their first major kiss, in the middle of a diner and just as the sprinklers go off in dramatic fashion, it feels rather bland despite the setting. To that end, the film attempts to elevate their romance, but it falls flat. In terms of performances, only Chatwin seems to be enjoying his turn as the film’s villain, chewing up scenery with gusto and a glint in his eyes.
Die in a Gunfight has all the elements that could work if the film was more put together and the character relationships weren’t so hollow. Some clever and lovely animated sequences at the start provide background on what happened between Ben and Mary’s family generations prior; they also give the film a much-needed boost of energy and flare, but all that falls away as it becomes clear there isn’t much to say about the characters or their predicament beyond the initial setup. At the end of the day, the film tries to have it all, but that throws the tone completely off, resulting in the story being all over the place.
Die in a Gunfight is playing in theaters and is available on demand as of July 16, 2021. The film is 92 minutes long and is rated R for violence, language and drug use.
